My first good find

[jfrutschy]

Just got this at a yard sale. $45.  WE 5al, dial 2ab.  This my first stick with a dial.  The paint is in great shape.  Frayed cord,  over all very nice condition.  Never had much luck with garage sales. 

[LarryInMichigan]

That is a very nice find.  You could probably visit every garage sale in southeastern Michigan for ten years and never find anything like that.

Larry

[Doug Rose]

very nice John....congrats!!!....Doug

[wrangler64]

Nice phone. You must all have better garage sales and flea markets than I ever find here.  Seems all the garage sales/flea markets here ever sell is old margarine tubs and ice cream pails along with boxes of old harlequin romance novels.

[xhausted110]

That is a very nice find.  You could probably visit every garage sale in southeastern Michigan for ten years and never find anything like that.

Larry

I can tell you, that is 100% true! all we have in SE Michigan is 500's and the occasional 302!

[LarryInMichigan]

I very seldom find any phones at garage sales here, but I have found enough baby clothes and toys to outfit the young population of a large country.  Plenty of worthless knick-knacks too...

Larry

[AE_Collector]

Oh well, one less out there for Doug...err Janet to find!

Terry

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Last time I found a candlestick for sale, the woman wanted $200 for it

[HowardPgh]

Very nice find-looks all original too!

I think everyone around here shops at the same WalMart.  Same old c**p at 99.99% of the sales here.  But I still keep going. There's always hope?

[jfrutschy]

I have since disassembled the stick, cleaned polished, replaced the line cord and am awaiting a handset cord, I serviced the dial and tested it using a old 302 converted subset.  The phone works great, and looks fantastic after cleaning, it was in outstanding condition.

My main question now is what subset is the most time appropriate for this model.

[poplar1]

Since it is marked 51AL, a 534A subset would be from the same time period--1920s.

WE apparently started dating phones in 1929. That's the only manufacture date I've seen in (later) 51ALs. Yours is probably older since the dial has patent dates on the outside of the dial.

Could you show the insides?

[jfrutschy]

Here's a couple shots of the insides.

[poplar1]

It appears to be wired correctly. The black wire in the cord won't be connected either in the phone or the subset.

[Doug Rose]

It appears to be wired correctly. The black wire in the cord won't be connected either in the phone or the subset.

Isn't it a 151 AL with the block? Is it stamped 151AL on the front of the perch?....Doug

[poplar1]

151-AL has two blocks. 51-AL has one. 50-AL has none.

Here is a 151-AL: