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Started by LarryInMichigan, June 07, 2012, 01:16:17 PM

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LarryInMichigan

Since the weather was nice (which is not usually the case here), I decided to go out for a bicycle ride to do some errands.  While I was out, I stopped at a junk warehouse full of old stuff from estates and the like.  There were only a few phones, mostly overpriced modular TTs, and a pink-turned-salmon AE 182 "Starlite", marked $25.  I asked the guy running the place if there were any more phones, and he said that all the other phones were at their nearby store (where the prices are really high).  On my way out, I spotted a WE subset on a table with all sorts of other stuff.  It was marked $20.  I asked how much he would take for the pink phone, and he decided to give me both for $20.

So now I have a discolored Starlite and another 634 BC subset.  The coil in the subset is dated "II 36".  The Starlite is from 1961.  I have never had a Starlite before, and I have no idea what it is worth.  Is it worth much?  It needs a bleaching and some sanding, and the rubber bottom part is missing.  I haven't tried plugging it in to either the phone line or AC power yet. 

Below are same bad pictures.

Larry


AE_Collector

#1
You got the most desirable version of the Starlite, the first version in PINK with the AC power cord built in. It doesn't look really badly discolored at least. Probably only worth $30 to $40 in good condition. Starlites just don't seem to ever be worth any more than that unless they are clear or gold plated.

Starlite's had a cork base. Richard Rose has the replacement Princess base pads but not for Starlite's to the best of my knowledge. You should be able to get some thin cork from a hobby place and cut your own replacement pad for it.

Terry

LarryInMichigan

I connected the AC power, and it actually does glow!  I removed the shell, gave it a very quick cleaning, and smeared peroxide over it.  I will probably sell it because it is not of great interest to me, and I do not care for pink.

Thank You

Larry

AE_Collector

Keep us informed on the peroxide progress. Do you do the full blown UV lamps or sunlight for days method or ???? I have many peroxide candidates but haven't even begun to think about trying it on them.

Terry

LarryInMichigan

I use sunlight.  Lately, I have been leaving most items sitting on my bathroom counter.  There is much less light than outside, but I don't have to keep going outside to check, and I don't have to worry about anything blowing away or being attacked by animals or neighbors' children.

Larry

AE_Collector

Yeah I guess you could have an interesting law suit on your hands if the neighbours kids got into the peroxide!

Terry

LarryInMichigan

Quote from: AE_collector on June 07, 2012, 06:41:25 PM
Yeah I guess you could have an interesting law suit on your hands if the neighbours kids got into the peroxide!

Terry

I might have a problem if my hands did anything to the kids :)  We have a large number of squirrels here, and whenever I leave out phone parts to bleach, I have a vision in my mind of returning to find a squirrel chewing on it.

Larry

xylenol15

Curious, the subset ringer appears to be of the original design as shown in Watson's patent. In Ralph O Meyer's book it's stated that the only significant change as these polarized type ringers went into operation is that the gongs were moved to the bottom to save space, but that isn't the case for this subset. The patent was for 1878, so I would have expected the modification to be present already, since subsets were sort of an eyesore and it would presumably have been good to reduce their dimensions.  ???

poplar1

xylenol15, not sure what you are referring to. The 534A subset is upside down in the photo---the gongs should be at the bottom. There is a spring on the ringer so it is polarized. The previous steel subset (334A) had the gongs exposed (outside of the metal box) but they were moved inside probably to keep little fingers from messing with them.
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

xylenol15

Oops, never mind, it is the revised version, I was just thrown by the supporting pegs used to give the gongs extra clearance. The armature just happens to be pretty long, but its pivot is at the bottom of the coils to save space. I'll post pictures to illustrate what I had meant. All photos from Old-Time Telephones!

G-Man

Isn't the 78AA ringer as used in the 634BC subset biased instead of being polarized?

HowardPgh

I think all the mechanical ringers are magnetically polarized.  The biasing is done with the spring.  Even the latest ones are magnetically polarized, they are just shaped different.
Howard