Auction 69 - AE40 in Orchid/Gold (painted/faded)

[JorgeAmely]

Holy crap Batman it's $2,950.00  with 7 days to go! If any of you guys were to find this one out in the wild, would you try to get it back to orchid or leave it alone? I would be a little scared to try it.

Sanding  or easy off oven cleaner or what methods would you use?? Just curious...

Sanding would be a good solution, because Polane is tough as nails to remove. However, the bottom vents would be very tough to refinish if painted with Polane. The vents are recessed a few mils from the top surface of the housing.  Oven cleaner on Polane does nothing to it.

Solvent cleaning still requires some friction to remove the paint and I really don't have a clue as to how this ancient plastic will react to something like acetone of paint thinner.

I think this one is too far gone to be brought back to Orchid with good chances of succeeding.  

My 2 cents.

[AE_Collector]

Has a decision been reached as to whether it IS polane painted or has actually discolored to this nice uniform looking blue color?

It looks to uniform to be anything other than a paint job but I don't see any of the usual overspray inside the handset or on the threads of the handset.

Terry

[JorgeAmely]

Terry:

I think it is a very good Polane job. The 500 I sanded to remove the Polane paint had a very good paint job with no over spray at all. I am sure AE or whoever painted it, did an excellent job, considering that the phone would have a gold trim package to accessorize it. You can see a faint over spray from the inside of the receiver cap.

[Greg G.]

Has a decision been reached as to whether it IS polane painted or has actually discolored to this nice uniform looking blue color?

It looks to uniform to be anything other than a paint job but I don't see any of the usual overspray inside the handset or on the threads of the handset.

Terry

If it weren't for the "shadows" under the handset and around the cradle, I would say it was painted.  If my eyes aren't deceiving me, I think I also see a hint of orchid peaking through around the transmitter end of the handset in the first picture. The hint of orchid peaking through adds to it, IMO.  Some classic autos are painted in that manner, with a hint of the undercoat peaking through in certain spots.  There's probably a name for that technique, but I don't know what it's called.

Painted or faded, if it were mine, I would leave it as is.  Since it's in my neck of the woods, I can save $20 by picking it up.

Still 5 days to go, so I'm going to guess $5k

[Doug Rose]

its a fade, Jon Kolger is now selling one for $3500....Doug

http://tinyurl.com/6hkahqy

[JorgeAmely]

Doug:

The soap opera in getting more interesting per dial revolution.  

This second set looks turquoise compared to the aqua blue color of the first set.

My two cents verdict is: first set painted, second set faded.

[Kenny C]

My two cents verdict is: first set painted, second set faded.

I agree and my mind is not going to be changed. 

[AE_Collector]

The soap opera in getting more interesting per dial revolution.  

Jorge:

How about the fact that that bot hphones are from Area Code 805. One was in the 969 exchange and the other in the 967 exchange, potentially both within the same city/exchange area.

Meanwhile, the second one has sold for the $3500 BIN price to "mcastellano1". Jon Kolger mentions in that listing that he originally bought two of them and resold one of them so the possibility exists that these are the two sets he originally bought.

Terry

[Dan]

and those may be the last two in existance.....

[Doug Rose]

My two cents verdict is: first set painted, second set faded.

I agree and my mind is not going to be changed. 

"you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him float on his back."  .....Moe Howard

[Doug Rose]

Jorge....I think it could be the lighting in the pictures, where they are not side by side; its too difficult to tell. I don't think Jon's was as nice as the handset didn't have the complete fade. I thought I went high with my initial fake bid, looks like I went too low. It sure is a handsome set. Looks WE Thermoplastic blue. Way out of my league, but for someone trying to complete the AE colors, this is their set; even if they have an orchis set. Sky is the limit on this. It's just a wonderful set. Five figures?...don't be surprised...Doug

[JorgeAmely]

Jorge....I think it could be the lighting in the pictures, where they are not side by side; its too difficult to tell. I don't think Jon's was as nice as the handset didn't have the complete fade. I thought I went high with my initial fake bid, looks like I went too low. It sure is a handsome set. Looks WE Thermoplastic blue. Way out of my league, but for someone trying to complete the AE colors, this is their set; even if they have an orchis set. Sky is the limit on this. It's just a wonderful set. Five figures?...don't be surprised...Doug

Doug:

I have some extra fake money I can loan you for your bid. 

The differences in opinion is what make the hobby a lot of fun. The only way to say for sure if it is painted or not is to be there in person and take a close look at these phones.

The chemistry behind these plastics is really interesting: what causes it to turn this color? In ABS plastics, the fire retardant releases a bromine atom. Bromine as a gas is brownish in color. Copper when oxidized turns turquoise, I wonder if something similar is happening here? Any chemists in the forum?

[Sargeguy]

5 days to go, I'll say $7,500. 

[TelePlay]

Color change is due to a chemical reaction which changes the reflectance and/or absorption of visible light. Full spectrum white light hitting any object will be totally absorbed (object appears black) or totally reflected (object appears white).

The absorption or reflectance of light takes place when photons interact with the covalent bonds of the object's molecular surface structure. It's complicated and unpredictable. The chemical reaction that caused a phone shell and handset to lighten or darken is dependant upon both the plastic itself chemically changing over time and the external influences on the outer layer of the plastic, both light and environmental (chemicals placed on the phone and in the air surrounding the exposed areas of the phone). The area where the handset rests in the cradle receives less light and atmospheric gasses and will change differently from the more exposed surface.

Atmospheric chemicals include oxidizing and reducing agents (oxygen or ozone, for example) along with chemicals from hand oil, cleaners and polishes, all of which are influenced by temperature, humidity and UV light over time produce unpredictable chemical reactions affecting the perceived color.

Or, what happens to the surface color depends on what changes take place over time in the plastic itself and how everything else affects that change. If the covalent bonds end up absorbing more of the visible spectrum, the plastic will darken. If the bonds end up reflecting more visible light, the plastic will lighten, or fade. If the bonds absorb different wavelengths, the plastic will change color. In any case, anything can happen and anything that does will not be uniform over the total area of the shell.

I went into the weeds on this but I hope it helps.

As for a painted AE-40, here's one currently on eBay, that sort of blue, and sad.

http://tinyurl.com/5wjw64v

And, it's only up to $14.50. I don't think there is gold under that paint.

[TelePlay]

And yet another AE-40 painted light blue. Was this a popular thing to do in the day?

http://tinyurl.com/6y8wbsb

No bids and starting at $55.