Classic Rotary Phones Forum

Telephone Talk => Decorator, Reproduction & Novelty Phones => Decorator & Design Line Phones => Topic started by: TelePlay on November 20, 2022, 01:20:31 PM

Title: ATC 881 Candlestick on eBay - did not sell
Post by: TelePlay on November 20, 2022, 01:20:31 PM
Spotted this on eBay and posting only because of the WE Serial Number sticker on the bottom.

The phone did not sell due to a lot of money for a modern repro-candlestick missing its mouthpiece and high shipping. Nice phones if that's what one wants, had one once for prop use and then sold it.

So, what one is buying is the housing only, everything inside remains the property of the phone company. Interesting.

Stamped 881B105 (881 model number, B modular, 105 black).
Title: Re: ATC 881 Candlestick on eBay - did not sell
Post by: paul-f on November 20, 2022, 03:55:30 PM
Here's a link to the Candlestick entry in the chart:
http://www.paul-f.com/weDesignLine.html#Stick

Some examples of the WE 581A components used with DecoTel Candlestick phones are here:
http://www.paul-f.com/we581.html (http://www.paul-f.com/we581.html)

Telephone housing makers had to accommodate what ever internal components were used by the local telephone company. In the Bell System, it was obviously WE components. Many non-Bell areas preferred components by AE or DecoTel.

Housings were often sold separately (often in stores or by mail), with the appropriate components to be added by the local phone company when the phone was installed.
Title: Re: ATC 881 Candlestick on eBay - did not sell
Post by: tubaman on November 21, 2022, 02:42:16 AM
Quote from: paul-f on November 20, 2022, 03:55:30 PM...
Housings were often sold separately (often in stores or by mail), with the appropriate components to be added by the local phone company when the phone was installed.

What a curious concept - you learn something new every day.  :)
Title: Re: ATC 881 Candlestick on eBay - did not sell
Post by: Kellogg Kitt on November 21, 2022, 12:05:18 PM
For "Design Line" phones, Bell companies sold the housing, but retained ownership of the electrical components (for your protection, of course).  I don't know what happened if the customer disconnected service and left the area.  Did they send somebody out to remove the components, leaving the customer with just a useless plastic shell?  I can imagine the customer arriving at the new location, ordering phone service, and trying to get the new telephone company to come out and install parts into the empty shell, LOL!  Maybe that actually is what happened, but it seems like a lot of wasted work and wasted money just to maintain control.

They finally relented a few years before Divestiture and started selling the entire phone.  I know this because I bought a few from Southern Bell in the early 1980s, despite not having service with them.  There was a time shortly before that, though, when they refused to sell anything to anyone who did not have service with them.

Independent companies, at least some of them, sold the entire phone.  I bought a Mickey Mouse phone from Carolina Telephone, and it was all mine!  It has ATC housing and Stromberg-Carlson components.    Anyone who bought the same from a Bell company would have gotten ATC housing with WE components.
Title: Re: ATC 881 Candlestick on eBay - did not sell
Post by: FABphones on November 21, 2022, 12:35:50 PM
This thread is just one example of what makes this website so great. So much knowledge freely shared with those of us who grew up in a different part of the world where this marketing concept did not exist.

Thanks for sharing everyone.
 :D
Title: Re: ATC 881 Candlestick on eBay - did not sell
Post by: paul-f on November 21, 2022, 02:19:11 PM
Quote from: 3463319 on November 21, 2022, 12:05:18 PM... what happened if the customer disconnected service and left the area.  Did they send somebody out to remove the components, leaving the customer with just a useless plastic shell?  I can imagine the customer arriving at the new location, ordering phone service, and trying to get the new telephone company to come out and install parts into the empty shell, LOL!

That's exactly what was supposed to happen by policy, Wade. (See below.) It apparently made sense to the bureaucrats, as the parts were telephone company property.

We have been told, however, that the field folks were often more practical. Parts were often left in -- especially if the subscriber was moving to another Bell System location. As the cost of on-site service increased, it was often cheaper to just let the parts go.

The following is from BSP 503-100-120 issue 3, January 1974.