1959 Princess

[cchaven]

My 701B dated 9/59 has the cross-hatched rubber mat without the additional hole and the rubber goes all the way around the lamp hole.

Jeff

[HarrySmith]

I am an not an expert on Princesses, I don't think I even own one. I notice the stamp on the 59 is completely different also, is the normal?

[cchaven]

Paul-f posted a picture of a pink Princess dated 8-59 with an identical stamp in this thread here in the forums in March:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=9086.0

It would appear that at least for the first few months that they didn't even have "Princess" on the bottom of the phone, then once they started stamping that as well, the stamp was rearranged a little.

Jeff

[paul-f]

My understanding is that the word Princess did not appear on the bottom until the public announcement, around November 1959.

It was printed in ink for a few months and finally stamped into the metal beginning in May 1960.  (I have seen both printed and stamped sets dated 5-60).

[SUnset2]

I'll throw up some pictures of a dates-matching 11-59 701B Princess that I got recently. It has many of the late-1959 Princess features like the pad around the lamp, the "Princess" stamp, the screw-base lamp, no center hole on the receiver caps, and no weight added inside.