I am not able to have the entire collection out at one time so I have started to display different categories one at a time in a certain area. There is one permanent display over my desk of newer candlestick phones and one other small area of novelty phones that changes a little from time to time. I appreciate the ability to be able to post these photos here. This is just a start and there will be more from time to time.
Scott K.
very nice :)
I have the same problem of limited display space. I have to put some things away to display other things. Your Princess collection looks almost complete. You need ivory and light gray, which are hard to find. Keep looking. They're not impossible to find, but light gray won't be cheap. Good luck finding them! You have a very nice display.
Nice collection of princess phone's. Reminds my of my collection, I used to have :-[
The WE Princess phones are my favorite. You have an excellent collection.
Very nice, that's quite the collection of Princess's. :)
Thank you everyone for the kind comments. It means a lot coming from a group like this. I have worked on and polished everyone of them. They all are 100% operational. The white TT doesn't have the keys in it right now because it needs to be repaired. I hope to have that done soon. I do have one question (for now). How do I tell the Ivory color from discolored white or beige?
Scott K.
Quote from: Scott on March 14, 2019, 09:37:51 PM
I do have one question (for now). How do I tell the Ivory color from discolored white or beige?
Scott K.
That's a very good question. It's not easy, and especially in an auction. Inside the handset would be the ideal place to check to see the original color, but they rarely have that part in the pictures. You can ask the seller to check inside to see if the color is the same as the outside. The earpiece part especially is where you can tell because the capsule comes out easily and also blocks smoke, which can also brown the plastics. A smoke faded Princess will be brown all over because smoke penetrates. It can even get inside the housing and turn the insides a little brown. But it doesn't get inside the handset behind the capsules.
A sun-faded or UV darkened Princess will have those lighter colored rings where the handset sat and under the handset it will be white when the rest of the phone is an ivory shade. Also the cords don't tend to brown as badly, so they will be lighter than the phone. The underside of the handset and the transmitter and receiver caps will be the original color too, because the sun didn't hit them.
An ivory (-50) 702B Princess will also have late 1960s/early 1970s dates and the cords will match the plastics. The ivory 2702B is very hard to find. It wasn't very popular. The 2702BM modular version is a lot easier to find.
I noticed most (or maybe all) of yours are the non-modular phones and that's nice to see. I like the older ones better too and some of the 12-button ones are just as hard to find as the 10-button ones, it seems. They were made for almost the same amount of time and touch-tone service didn't really become widespread until the later 1970s when modular phones took over.
I hope that helps you find one. I'll be on the lookout too and maybe I can PM you when one shows up.
This is the permanent display of newer candlestick phones over my desk. Some of you may have seen another photo of these in the "wanted" section recently. I would like to add to it if anyone has one or two they are looking to move to a new home. Unlike the Princess phones I don't worry too much if these work. I test them to see if they do or don't work then polish them up and put them into the display.
Scott K.
~
I like those Deco Tel Candlesticks as well. I have pick up a few other types, too. Nice neat way to display your collection!
Thank you Benny.
Scott K.
I like your collection Scott. I only have about 8 Princess phone in my collection. But probably my favorite late model Western Electric phone.
Thanks Gary. I agree, there is just something about them. I will be adding a Blue 701B very soon.
Scott K.
Novelty phone display that changes when new phones are added.
Scott K.
Some tough to find phones
Pink panther was a very low production phone. low as in the low 10's.
I think erotica was pretty low production as well.
I have never seen the birds of prey phones before. They look good. Are from a wildlife organization?
Interesting to hear about the production numbers Jim. Here is some back story on some of them. The erotica came from across the pond a couple of years ago. I have another one that is painted differently. It has a gold painted look. I believe there is a one on eBay right now from Australia that is different looking all together. The bird phones don't have any markings. The owl has a plate on the the front that says it is an owl. The eagle looks like it used to have a plate. The owl came from Canada. Here is the story about the Pink Panther phone. My Dad knew someone that owned a premium supply company. This is a company that supplied banks and such with toasters, (Pink Panther phones), or blenders when someone opened and account. (this is just an example to give you the idea of what I'm talking about). He would call my Dad to come get everything that was broken, returned or left over from time to time. My Dad would fix and sell what he could and trash the rest. One day he came home with a pick up truck filled with Pink Panther phones, most still in the box. (My opinion here, these things are not made very well. Even if they work they don't work well.) He fixed what he could. He would sell one from time to time. He would have yard sales and sell them for $2.00 each. This is the last one he had. It works. It has never seen daylight so it isn't faded like every other one I've seen. Including the one currently listed on eBay. He gave this to my oldest daughter. Which by the way was the person responsible for getting me hooked on collecting telephones. To get back at her I think I will leave her all my telephone stuff in my will. :) Thanks for giving me the opportunity to tell this story. I enjoyed writing about it.
Scott K.
This is another one that sits out all the time. The only other one I've seen was listed on ebay recently. It would be cooler if the torch lit up. But it doesn't.
Nice. You could probably add a LED to the torch if you really want to.
Thank you Harry but I know me and I would never get around to it. All the best.
Scott K.
On my desk. It works but I suspect the insides have been bypassed or maybe taken out.
Scott K.
At least it makes good book end ;D
Have you tried opening it up? The locks look like they may be dummies. Probably open with a screwdriver.
No I haven't, but good catch I'm using it for a bookend! :). It came from an estate sale from an ex Bell employee. I picked up some very cool stuff from telephones to vintage advertising.
Scott K.
Update 5/10/19. I am beginning to put this display away and put up something new.
Scott K.
5-15-19. New display. Tenite (soft plastic) 500s.
Very nice, Scott! I see your black set is an early one with the small-font "operator". It sure looks to be in very nice condition too!
Nice collection. I see the Rose Beige has a straight Gray handset cord. What year is it? Is the line cord matching?
Quote from: RotarDad on May 16, 2019, 10:03:20 AM
Very nice, Scott! I see your black set is an early one with the small-font "operator". It sure looks to be in very nice condition too!
Thank you Paul, it has late 1950, early 1951 dates and was super clean on the inside.
Regards,
Scott K.
Quote from: HarrySmith on May 16, 2019, 10:33:48 AM
Nice collection. I see the Rose Beige has a straight Gray handset cord. What year is it? Is the line cord matching?
Thank you Harry. It is a date matching 1954 and the line cord matches as well. It received the FOTM this past January! Very lucky eBay find.
Regards,
Scott K.
I am getting ready to change out what is displayed so here is an updated photo of the Tenite 500's. A few added this year. Also an updated photo of Deco-Tel type candlestick display. Merry Christmas everyone.
Regards,
Scott K.
12-17-19
Scott;
You have a very good collections of various style phones, and some harder to find ones at that. How long have you been collecting. Have you restored those or is that the way you buy them ?
D/P
Thank you D/P. My daughter got me started when I was helping her collect. Proof that the telephone collecting disease is contagious and may be somewhat hereditary. I am not sure when it all started but I would guess it is well over 10 years. The candlesticks I don't worry about working. I clean and polish and not much more. The 500s I clean, polish and repair to working condition. The Med Blue, Ivory and Beige in the photos hadn't been worked on yet but it was time to change. They will be taken care of when I get them out again in the future. I will still be on the look out for the Mahogany, Oxford Gray, a better Yellow and Green until then. Many more photos will be coming as I am going through the many boxes I have. Thanks for looking
Regards,
Scott K.
After emptying some boxes I gathered the corporate logo characters together.
Scott K.
>>>>EDIT<<<<< This post is regards to the early doughboy sets.>>>>EDIT<<<<<<
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dough boy is a tough one to find. The story is the made 1,000 of them.
The reality is the pretty much all quit working and most got tossed . If yours works then there is a good chance it was repaired.
These are one of those character phones that people offer for $500. They sell for less.
I traded a Shellamar (clam shell style trimline) for mine and it is a repaired one.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I got the story of 1,000 from Jerry Wilhelmi. He acquired 2 of them over the years, one had a sticker with an 800 #, he called it to ask about the phones. The guy was surprised and said we only made 1,000 of them , and the went pretty quick.
I got mine from him.
Jim
google Shellamar to pull up photos of the phone type.
Quote from: Jim Stettler on December 19, 2019, 07:03:14 PM
Dough boy is a tough one to find. The story is the made 1,000 of them.
The reality is the pretty much all quit working and most got tossed . If yours works then there is a good chance it was repaired.
These are one of those character phones that people offer for $500. They sell for less.
I traded a Shellamar (clam shell style trimline) for mine and it is a repaired one.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I got the story of 1,000 from Jerry Wilhelmi. He acquired 2 of them over the years, one had a sticker with an 800 #, he called it to ask about the phones. The guy was surprised and said we only made 1,000 of them , and the went pretty quick.
I got mine from him.
Jim
google Shellamar to pull up photos of the phone type.
Interesting info about the doughboy. I have seen them with two different bases. It seemed to me the base with the contours on the base is an earlier model and the smooth sided base is the later model. Nothing to base that on, just a hunch. Also, the dinosaur isn't a logo that I know of. I just didn't have another group to put it in.
Here are some more. Planes, trains and automobiles, (and street cars).
Quote from: Scott on December 20, 2019, 11:14:28 AM
Interesting info about the doughboy. I have seen them with two different bases. It seemed to me the base with the contours on the base is an earlier model and the smooth sided base is the later model.
I have/had the later one as well. mine broke off at the base during shipping. The 1,000 number is on the early ones, all the post is in regard to the early sets. I forgot about the later sets.
Jim
Cans and bottles.
Scott K.
Quote from: Scott on December 20, 2019, 11:14:28 AM
Interesting info about the doughboy. I have seen them with two different bases. It seemed to me the base with the contours on the base is an earlier model and the smooth sided base is the later model.
On the ones I call later, Doughboy looked different than the early ones, If you have seen the early doughboy on 2 different bases, then there was at 3 variations.
Jim
Thank you Jim for the information. I'm not sure what I have but I would bet it is the latest version.
Here are a few more photos.
More.
And more.
More and more. That about does it for the inside phones. There are many more in the barn. Someday I might get to them.
Scott K.
Olympics
Great collection! I like that pic of the 5 candlesticks together!
And the Stratocaster & Les Paul!
Josh
Thank you Josh. It has been fun looking at your collection, thanks for posting it.
Scott K.
Few more.
Thanks! Nice group of 202 colors.
Josh
Thank you Josh.
Scott K.
I spent a cold and snowy day today to gather up the multi line phones I have. These phones have never been in the same place at the same time since I have had them and I have never displayed any of them.
From left to right;
510 12/55 (needs a lot of attention)
510 2/56
544B 8/58
466AC 8/52
464 HC-3 7/50-I
New addition to the multi line phones I have. It's funny to me that I never even tried to start collecting these. But, I guess I am now.
Scott K.
swirled connector box
you're ahead of me on the collecting! but, then.... you have the room, I don't..... love the multiuline phones... do you have the equipment to run them?
Thank you John. No I don't have the equipment to run them. I never went looking for any of these. They found me. :)
Scott K.
I've seen many 42As that were swirled. Some looked really cool. I had no idea those too would be collectable.
And more.
Update of 1702Bs and Birds.
For years now I have been looking for a 702B Ivory rotary Princess telephone. Can someone confirm they actually exist. The color was released in 1967 according to Paul F.'s site (thank you Paul F). I do have a touch tone. Just wondering if I should keep looking. Thank you .
Scott K.
Yes they do exist. Nice ones are harder to find in some areas. But they are out there.
Have you looked on ebay?
EDIT: I looked on ebay after this was first posted, there are a couple, that could be cleaned up nice. But the rest are either faded or modular.
Thank you Ken for the reply. I have taken a chance on a few of those listed as Ivory. Even after I scrutinized each photo before purchasing they ended up being faded white. So I was hoping someone had one in their possession to confirm they exist.
Regards,
Scott K.
Yup I understand, but the ones I looked at were indeed Ivory. Some pics are hard to tell, but I've seen many a picture fadded and dim,lighting, and can tell 99% of the time.
Especially with the handset removed thats a tell tale sign.
So your looking for a non modular Ivory set.
I can keep my eye out for any in my area.
I am particular about what sets I collect. Because I've had a lot in my years, and not just anything will I buy, it has to be restorable no cracks etc.
Quote from: Scott on October 24, 2020, 12:11:20 PM
For years now I have been looking for a 702B Ivory rotary Princess telephone. Just wondering if I should keep looking.
Always keep looking. There are lots of exceptions on colors vs the official info. Since Ivory appears to be official there are probably some out there.
There were some early princess sets made with 'soft' plastic. The soft plastic colors don't seem to show up as official colors.
JMO,
Jim
Thank you Jim for the insight. Your input is always helpful.
Regards,
Scott K.
AE candlestick.
Nice AE, I fixed your pictures for you.
Scott...it is a beauty. You should be very proud....Doug
Update 11-21-20
Updated. As far as tenite 500s go I think I'm done. Unless a clear one comes my way. But I'm not holding my breath. In addition to the hard to find colors I was also able to get better examples of the yellow and green. I have not cleaned up any of the phones I added this year. Those will be winter projects. Thank you to everyone that posted photos of their 500 collections so I knew what to look for.
Scott K.
The wife wanted to see something different so she got a Pepsi display. All the best to everyone and I hope your new year is starting off well.
Updated Deco-Tel display and a new display for pre 1960 WE 500s.
Very nice collection & display. Congrats!
Thank you Mr. Smith.
Regards,