Gold princess phones

[princessphone]

Hi there,
I've read that in the late sixties and early seventies gold and clear sets could be special ordered. There's a set on eBay with a gold shell for sale and it's tweaked my interest. Does anyone know if these gold sets were just painted gold or did they use a gold coloured plastic? If they used gold coloured plastic I may take the challenge of a restoration. A bit of Novus may clean it up. If they were painted I don't think I'd be interested. Would like to hear your thoughts, John DeJonge

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Hi there,
I've read that in the late sixties and early seventies gold and clear sets could be special ordered. There's a set on eBay with a gold shell for sale and it's tweaked my interest. Does anyone know if these gold sets were just painted gold or did they use a gold coloured plastic? If they used gold coloured plastic I may take the challenge of a restoration. A bit of Novus may clean it up. If they were painted I don't think I'd be interested. Would like to hear your thoughts, John DeJonge

The ones that were done by Western Electric were usually ivory plastic plated in a gold-colored substance. The ones that have the gold colored plating in very good condition are usually very easy to polish up, and they look great! To my knowledge, they never plated the handset, only the housing, so the sky's the limit for whatever color you want the handset and cords.

[JimH]

I've got a gold princess with both the handset and shell gold plated.  I'd posted it on an earlier thread about five years ago.  It looks like a factory job. I also have one with just the shell plated, and an ivory handset. 

Jim

[jsowers]

Actually, both painting and plating/flashing were done, but I don't think the painted sets were meant for the general public. They may have been awards like the gold painted 500s we see. The gold flashed Princesses were kind of a nod to the Imperial of 1955, in the same color combination and also meant for a bedroom phone. I haven't seen any proof of this or a name in any publications, but they ought to be called Imperial Princesses. Just the housing was flashed gold, as has already been discussed. The first picture is a gold and white 1702. They also made them in gold and black, sort of a manly version.

The painted phones are gold all over. Some have brown cords like my example and some have gold cords, depending on what they had on hand. The paint tended to wear, especially on the handset, so these phones aren't always found in good condition. Some are darker gold like mine and some are lighter. I think it depended on the telco and the shop that created it.

I have a third example that's strange. It has aqua blue cords and they flashed (or plated) the entire phone. It looks silver on the outside, and feels cool like metal, but inside the caps and handset it's copper looking. I've seen a copper flashed Princess before and I think this was once copper, but now it's a worn, dull silver. Still not an ugly phone, but it would look so much better as a copper Princess.

[JimH]

Here's the "manly" version.  It originally had a badly worn G1 handset with shiny ABS caps.   I switched it for a G3 handset that I could shine up.  I don't think the G3 handset was produced in black until they stopped making the bakelite G1s.  This would explain why my black 1963 princess phone has a G1 handset.  It feels awkwardly heavy on a princess phone.

[princessphone]

To Christian: Thank you for reply. You really amaze me with all that stuff that you know. John

[princessphone]

To JimH. Thanks for sharing those pictures. Is that a gold coin or medallion hiding under the dial wheel? As far as you can tell did WE mark / identify any of the gold princesses with a number or symbol on the chassis, shell or hand set? Just curious. John DeJonge

[AE_Collector]

The Gold Flashed housings saw some action over at Automatic Electric as well.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=4052.0

The flashing is an interesting process, the bare shells are noticibly heavier than the regular shells and cooler to the touch like metal would be.

Terry

[JimH]

To JimH. Thanks for sharing those pictures. Is that a gold coin or medallion hiding under the dial wheel? As far as you can tell did WE mark / identify any of the gold princesses with a number or symbol on the chassis, shell or hand set? Just curious. John DeJonge

Someone cut out a picture of an old gold coin and put it in where the number card should go.  I just left it there.  There are no special markings on the phone.  It's dated '65 and just has the 702 model designation. 

[princessphone]

To jsowers. Also thank you for sharing those nice pictures. I also bought a black princess once that had a G1 handset. Even though it buffed  up real and shinny I also found it too heavy and replaced it with a G3.
In re to the chrome looking princess. I once had an old car (1940 Packard Limo) which had some re-chroming done during restoration. The process that was used was called triple chroming. After all the prep work, the pieces were first plated with copper, then buffed (this first step maybe repeated until it all flaws were removed). The copper acted as a bit of filler. Then it was plated with nickel and than the final plating with chromium. I suspect that WE may have used a similar process for your phone. If the gold was very thin it may have been polished off.
I agree that a princess in copper finish would look stunning but without some protective coating would be prone to tarnishing. The inside of handset was hardly exposed and kept its brilliance.
What I just wrote you was just what was going through my head so I could be completely wrong.
By the way is the inside of the shell also copper? If it is, it would lead me to guess that the copper plating was done in a electrolytic bath(inexpensive) and the nickel and gold with a selective applicator.
Thank for the interest, John DeJonge             

[princessphone]

To AE Collector.
Hello Terry, thank for your interest. Being sort of new to the phone hobby I've been kind of stuck in a rut with WE (MaBell). Did not realize that some of the other phone companies made great phones too, maybe even better. Like Avis used to say "When you're #2 you try harder". Great looking phones! John DeJonge   

[jsowers]

I know nothing at all about the flashing process, but from observation it looks like there's a metallic basecoat and a color clearcoat (to use car terminology) on the top that can wear away. I don't know where the phone with the copper finished insides is or I would take a picture of the inside of the housing for you. Sorry!

I did finally find the picture I was searching for, though. It's a copper 2711 auction picture I saved once and I think stunning, like you said, is a good description. It reminds me of copper pots in a kitchen. I bid on it and lost big time. It looks to have brown cords. I don't know how they kept the copper part from tarnishing. It looks like there may be a brushed texture and a finish over the copper because there's shading under the handset. I don't remember seeing many of them. Maybe one or two in 15 years of looking on eBay. It's a shame they didn't make more of them.

[Dave F]

Here's my 1965 gold-plated 702B.

DF

[princessphone]

To jsowers. Hey Johnathan, Glad that you were able to save a picture of one that got away. What a shame, it looks like it was one of those hybrid babies with a 2 line function. Thanks for the follow up. John DeJonge 

[princessphone]

To DaveF.  Thanks for sharing that picture. I'll bet Mr. Goldfinger would be envious. Can anyone remember what kind of phone the girl in the Goldfinger movie (the one who got painted gold) was using? Just curious.
What are AUTOVON cards? John