More from Sundays Flea markets

[Doug Rose]

I have been collecting for a long time and I have never found the SC1243 wall version. This is really cool with a brass finger wheel and brass hookswitch bar. Someone painted this black, so the bakelite was very well preserved under the paint, but it was a (expletive deleted) to remove. Looks to be an English dial card and the green cloth handset cord looks like it was a converted switchboard cable. Someone went to a lot of trouble with this bad boy. Very neat deco design.....its a keeper.....Doug

[KeithB]

Definitely a keeper, Doug!!
She's a beauty. 

[Wallphone]

Very nice Doug. Even if you had to look for twenty years, that one would make up for the wait.
I don't think that I ever saw one that sharp looking.
Dougpav

[Doug Rose]

thanks guys....I really can't understand why someone would paint bakelite, it so easy to restore; but in this case it think it preserved it. Once I got the paint to come off, I couldn't believe the shine, even before it tried to make it shine. Its not a tough phone to find, but I am more than happy with it....Doug

[LarryInMichigan]

I mentioned in posts before that many phones that I have bought were painted black over bakelite, and some over tenite.  I couldn't understand what kind of lunatic would paint perfectly good bakelite or plastic, but the paint most probably preserved the surfaces underneath.  I have a beautiful AE 50 which was covered with rough black paint when I bought it, and it was quite a hassle to strip the paint, but the bakelite looks great.  I always use 3M "Safest Stripper" for removing paint from bakelite.  It does not seem to damage the bakelite at all and has very little smell.  It will dissolve tenite though.

Larry

[Doug Rose]

I mentioned in posts before that many phones that I have bought were painted black over bakelite, and some over tenite.  I couldn't understand what kind of lunatic would paint perfectly good bakelite or plastic, but the paint most probably preserved the surfaces underneath.  I have a beautiful AE 50 which was covered with rough black paint when I bought it, and it was quite a hassle to strip the paint, but the bakelite looks great.  I always use 3M "Safest Stripper" for removing paint from bakelite.  It does not seem to damage the bakelite at all and has very little smell.  It will dissolve tenite though.

Larry

Larry...I'll try the 3M safest stripper, I usually use the cheapest the hardware store sells. Thanks for the tip....Doug

[Doug Rose]

I was curious if anyone else has one of these. Do they all have the brass hookswitch lever. I know the SC 1243 has the lever, but they always seem to match the metal the phone was made out of. This had black paint, but then again, the whole phone was painted black! I imagine the Brass fingerwheel and the hookswitch lever were painted black when they were new as brass was not deemed suitable. I can't quite understand that as I think the brass is an excellent contrast to the black bakelite and makes it look ritzy. ....Doug

[Wallphone]

The only one that I have plastic bead blasted was plain metal. I don't know what the others I have are made of. Does a magnet stick to it?
Dougpav

[KeithB]

I think the brass is an excellent contrast to the black bakelite and makes it look ritzy. ....Doug

Doug, I agree with you 110%.  The contrasting brass adds quite a bit of elegance, IMHO.

[paul-f]

Doug,

The ones I remember seeing are black -- although I haven't tried buffing the paint off to see what's underneath.  Here's a photo from a past auction.

[Doug Rose]

Doug,

The ones I remember seeing are black -- although I haven't tried buffing the paint off to see what's underneath.  Here's a photo from a past auction.

Paul...thats the same one as on my metal 1243. I have never seen "push to dial or talk" on any of the SCs before.

[Doug Rose]

The only one that I have plastic bead blasted was plain metal. I don't know what the others I have are made of. Does a magnet stick to it?
Dougpav

Doug...a magnet doesn't stick to this, its brass...Doug

[Wallphone]

Just checking to see if maybe it was coated with something. Now I have an easy way to test mine without stripping them. Thanks.
Dougpav

[HarrySmith]

That is one sweet looking phone
I kinda like the Green cord, it's different

[paul-f]

Doug,

I pulled the 1250 out of my display and was surprised to find the same plate.  I guess it's been quite a while since I looked at it closely.

Here's a photo, showing that it was apparently originally black and has been worn through use.

The second photo is a better view of the normal plate from a 1243.