AT&T Lease Sets--Colors Available c. 1990

[poplar1]

AT&T "Big 10" Sets were available for lease in new colors sometime after divestiture. I'm trying to determine exactly when these colors were first offered.  Also, any info on other leased colors from that period is welcome.

c. 1990 lease colors:                            "Old" colors still offered in 1990:

Princess (702/2702):                            Ivory (-50), White (-58)
Slate Blue (Color Code -293)
Cameo Green (-255)
Peach (-258)

500/2500:                                           Black (-3), Ivory (-50), Red (-53), White (-58), Light Beige (-60)
Ultralight Gray (-265)
Bright Red (-114)
Country Blue (-305)

554:                                                    Black, Ivory, White
Sun Yellow (-303)
Country Blue (-305)

2554:                                                 Black, white
Mocha Brown (-304)

Trimline:                                              Black, ivory, white, lt. beige
Sun Yellow (-303)
Forrest Green (-302)
Bright Red (-114)
Country Blue (-305)
>Brown (-104)

[poplar1]

The "Big 10" lease sets were usually refurbished sets. However, they often had new cords, new plastics and sometimes other new parts. They were remanufactured at the Western Electric/AT&T Service Centers. As demand for leased phones decreased, service centers all over the country consolidated. The last US-based service center was the Atlanta location; it closed around 1995.

Apparently, the following colors, though still available in the 1980s,  were discontinued or were on the way out by the early 1990s:

-51 Green
-53 Red..........................Latest Found: R-702B-53 (rotary Princess) 30 APR 88; R-2500DMG-53 RF93AT06
-56 Yellow
-62 Aqua Blue.........However, this color and -59 pink were resurrected for the Signature Princess


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There was a new line of lease sets introduced known as the "Signature" Series.  The Signature sets were never offered for sale. These contained ringers--not warblers--and line-powered LED (lighted) dials. They were Tone-Pulse switchable--for customers who still didn't want to pay the dial tone provider an extra $1.60 or so per month for Touch-Tone, but who didn't mind paying AT&T $5 a month to lease a phone! Except for the Princess, they also had hold button and redial. Only the Princess had the night light feature. (Even though no transformer was needed for the Signature Princess dial light, if you wanted the night light feature, you had to add a transformer.)

Signature Princess (2703):
Apparently the cameo green and slate blue Princess colors were not popular, so two original colors--pink and aqua blue--were revived.
Ivory (-50)
White (-58)
Peach (-258)
Pink (-59)
Aqua Blue (-62):

2500DMGL (Signature):
Burgundy
Maize Yellow (-308)
White
??Slate Blue??

2554 (Signature):
Burgundy
Maize Yellow (-308)
White

Signature Trimline:
Blue

(List of colors to be updated as more information is received.)

[poplar1]

So far, I have not been able to find any of the sets in the "new" colors before 1990.

Earliest              Latest           Color                                                              Model:

31 JUL 90       5/93              Bright Red -114                                          223 (Rotary TML), 2500DMG
31 DEC 90      30 APR 95     Forrest Green -302 (Forrest has 2 "r"s)     223 (Rotary TML), 2223 (Touch-Tone TML)
31 MAR 91      31 JAN 93     Cameo Green -255                                     702 (Rotary PRN)
31 OCT 93      30 JUN 95     Country Blue -305                                      2500, TML
31 OCT 93                           Mocha Brown -304                                     2554
31 MAR 93                           Peach -258                                                2702

[compubit]

I just picked up a Mocha Brown 2554 base with a RF92AT01 sticker on the back...

Now to find a matching handset and cord...

Jim