If you could keep just ONE phone...

[finlover]

My favorite phone is my dark gray 554, which may also be the rarest. A close second is my yellow 1955 500 with gray cords that I haven't touched. This is how it came to me. There's another yellow phone that I won't post, but Dennis knows which one it is.

WOW--you just blew my mind with those!!!  The Oxford Gray 554 is impossibly rare and I don't know that I've ever seen an early yellow with neutral cords before.  If you've been wondering what to get me for Christmas, it would make the perfect companion to my red and blue gray corded phones!

[jsowers]

Dennis, the yellow with gray cords is from 7/55. I have a 1955 Bell System pocket calendar displayed beside it with a woman using a yellow 500 with gray cords.

The phone Jorge wants me to post isn't my #1 favorite, only because the yellow straight cord isn't very yellow. The early yellow cords faded badly to a sort of ivory color, and this one is no exception. But it is yellow inside the handset, as the third picture shows. The second picture shows the number card, which wasn't the original. My home prefix growing up was and still is REgent 1, so that would be my favorite number card.

What makes this phone rare is the yellow straight cord. There was a very short time in 1956 when the cords changed to color matching but coil cords hadn't become standard yet. So some straight cord phones were made with matching handset cords. Red and dark beige were also made during this time, but green matched later in 1957 after coil cords were standard, I think. At least a green one hasn't surfaced. Very few of any color have surfaced (other than the dark gray, brown and ivory straight cord models that were made all along).

The reason Dennis has a thing for it is he tried to bid on it back in 2007 and misfired and lost it and it went to me. The one that got away. Truthfully, we bid against each other all the time on the same phones and there were never any hard feelings and we didn't communicate with each other until years later when the Forum got all of us together.

We will all have "the one that got away." Mine is in my avatar. I saved the auction picture.

[JimH]

Here's my other gold phone, a Princess from 1965.

[Kenny C]

too bad it darkened you might could have dyed it if it had faded and not been exposed to sunlight.

kool gold

[finlover]

Try peroxide gel on that straight yellow cord.  If it gets rid of that brownish color, you could re-dye it yellow.  I've had good luck with the RIT, believe it or not--the liquid, not the powder.  For Pastel Yellow, try mostly yellow with a tiny amount of navy blue and black.  If you don't like the result, RIT makes a dye remover that will bleach it away.

[Dennis Markham]

Thanks for posting the photos and story on the yellow 500, Jonathan.  Even with the discolored cord, it's a beautiful example.

JimH your Princess looks nice too.  I don't recall seeing one with the matching gold handset.  Was the gray mounting cord original to the phone?

[jsowers]

Probably my 1965 Gold 500.  It's the same year as I was born, and I always think of it as my "one in a million" phone, although I don't know what it's initial use was.  I know that it's a factory job, though.  I've just always liked it.

Jim, Your gold 500 looks to be in great shape. I have a similar one. I think they were made up at the phone company for retirees or as awards of merit or something. Mine has parts dated from the 50s and 60s, but the look is very similar to yours, and the housing is from 1967. Mine has an odd exclusion switchhook on the housing, but I don't think the chassis does. Also one of those odd curly mounting cords. Mine is much more worn and used looking than yours. I made the number card by scanning a logo card and changing the color with Photoshop.

My aunt has a metallic gold keyset--she also collects phones. She found hers for $5 at Salvation Army! My uncle, now deceased, would likely have known where that keyset was originally from, since he worked for Southern Bell from the 1950s to the 1980s and dealt with business installations. I often wish he were still around so I could get some phone history from him.

[JimH]

JimH your Princess looks nice too.  I don't recall seeing one with the matching gold handset.  Was the gray mounting cord original to the phone?

I just checked out the dates on the Gold Princess.  I was mistaken.  It's a 701B (without the ringer inside) and is marked "R470" on the bottom.  The case is stamped 67 on the inside, and the line cord, which is a 5-wire cord, is marked 68.  I didn't think the "silver satin" cords came out until later.  The handset cord is marked 1975. I didnt think they were refurbishing 701s this late.  The silver cord is only connected inside with the green and red...with the other wires cut off. Makes me think the cord was put on later.

[JimH]

[

My aunt has a metallic gold keyset--she also collects phones. She found hers for $5 at Salvation Army! My uncle, now deceased, would likely have known where that keyset was originally from, since he worked for Southern Bell from the 1950s to the 1980s and dealt with business installations. I often wish he were still around so I could get some phone history from him.
[/quote]

Here's my Gold Keyset.  It had a paint-loss issue in the front which I probably should have left alone.  Anyway, live and learn.

[dennisspeaks]

I wish I had one of those golden oldies too, will settle for a red one though.

[HarrySmith]

You can have my phones when you pry them from my cold dead hands

Cmon guys! I left this one wide open for ya! The correct reply is : "Your proposal is acceptable"

The one for me that I would not part with, at least for now is my Rose Beige 500 that is my avatar.

[Sargeguy]

[

I would say that the B-1 is my favorite, it took a few years to get all the parts together (all original except for the suede) required some bashing with a hammer, but worked perfectly the first time I hooked it up.

[deedubya3800]

It depends on the method in which I have to get rid of the other phones.

If I have to sell all my others and keep one, then it would be my 1946/60 5302. It found me, I say, because I just happened to be going to Omaha that weekend and we stopped by an indoor flea market to have something to do and there it was, front and center not ten seconds in the door!

But if I have to give them away and only keep one, then I'd have to hang on to the most valuable: My 1942 ivory 302. This is the only phone I actually paid big money for, but I feel it's well worth it.

[Adam]

Talking about gold phones, did any one of us win this phone?  It was one the commemorative phones given to the Governors of all the states in 1967.  It caught my eye because I've seen the one presented to Ronald Reagan when he was Governor of California, it's in the museum at the Reagan Library.  This one sold for $99 on eBay on Sept. 29.

[Jim Stettler]

[

My aunt has a metallic gold keyset--she also collects phones. She found hers for $5 at Salvation Army! My uncle, now deceased, would likely have known where that keyset was originally from, since he worked for Southern Bell from the 1950s to the 1980s and dealt with business installations. I often wish he were still around so I could get some phone history from him.

Here's my Gold Keyset.  It had a paint-loss issue in the front which I probably should have left alone.  Anyway, live and learn.
[/quote]

This is probably a 1-in-1,000,000 set. It would be marked Western electric vs bell system and should be matching dates.

Every millionth phone that WE made was plated in a gold color and was given to an employee. Employee names were submitted by their supervisors.
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Years ago there was THE 1-in-a-1,000,000,000 telephone at a show. It is a trimline, plated in a gold metal. it had a medeliaion embedded in the back with the 1,000,000,000. Date and recepient. It was offered in trade for a blake transmitter. It changed hands before I ever met the owner.
Jim