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Field Trial 500? F-51674-R Discussion

Started by WEBellSystemChristian, April 07, 2016, 02:58:58 PM

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Doug Rose

Dan...I only saw them on the inside of phones, but it does look real to me. I would really like to see the inside of it!!....Doug
Kidphone

unbeldi

#16
It is real, the Morris trial sets were marked very similarly.

Dan/Panther

My "Field Trial Set", is not marked as such, only marked, " Do Not Open, If any trouble occurs, return to Bell Labs, Murry Hills, New Jersey."

Now I wonder if my set falls under a different category, other than "Field Trial Set" ?

D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

HarrySmith

I sent another message telling her I am interested and asked for some pictures of the inside. We will see or not see!
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

WEBellSystemChristian

Wait, does the auction page show the listing as still active for everyone else? For me, it shows the phone as having an 'error in the listing'.
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

poplar1

#20
eBay item number:
322065356094        ENDED  $25.00   0 Bids

This listing was ended by the seller because there was an error in the listing

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

RotarDad

#21
I believe the seller still has the phone and is considering several offers.  Harry's first inquiry netted such a response, and the listing had already ended.  Harry can you confirm?

I think Ebay needs to update their choices for ending auctions.  I suggest:

1) This auction was ended by the seller because there was a fortuitous visit by Mr. Helpful.

2) This auction was ended by the seller because there was an offer made for a lot more than the seller expected, but still way less than the item is actually worth.
Paul

andre_janew

D/P's set may be marked differently because they were testing an entirely new type of phone.  His set could be classified as a working prototype.

Dan/Panther

Quote from: andre_janew on April 09, 2016, 02:02:30 PM
D/P's set may be marked differently because they were testing an entirely new type of phone.  His set could be classified as a working prototype.

I just wish I had more information on my set. I know it has been scrutinized to death here, but still not one piece of actual documentation of it's origin, OTHER than it matches the original Patent drawings submitted to the Patent office in 1947. If it didn't say, "Return to Bell Labs", I would be completely convinced it is a prototype, but because it obviously was in the field, it has to be one of several. Yet no one has seen another or documentation to support that. You would think at least one other example would appear.
On the other hand unique is good also.

D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

RotarDad

Dan - There may well be another that will surface at some point.  As the old timer's estates are liquidated, stuff shows up (this is a huge benefit of Ebay imho, where stuff that might get tossed, gets a week or two on Ebay instead).  As  you know, in there early years of this forum, most believed a 49er 500 was just legend, but now we know some examples survived and 2 showed up on Ebay in the year or so.  We'll keep looking.....   in the meantime, you have the "King Of 500s"..
Paul

TelePlay

For posterity, here is a composite of the eBay screen shot with the seller description superimposed with the line cord end and a composite of the 4 other photos offered by the seller in the listing.

HarrySmith

Quote from: RotarDad on April 09, 2016, 12:19:19 PM
I believe the seller still has the phone and is considering several offers.  Harry's first inquiry netted such a response, and the listing had already ended.  Harry can you confirm?

Yes, according to the message I got from the seller she still has it and is accepting offers. Yes, the listing was ended. My guess was Mr. Helpful also.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

TelePlay

Quote from: HarrySmith on April 09, 2016, 05:45:30 PM
Yes, according to the message I got from the seller she still has it and is accepting offers. Yes, the listing was ended. My guess was Mr. Helpful also.

After finding the ended listing for the above photos, I sent a message to the seller asking if the phone was still for sale.

All she replied with was "What would you offer on it?"

I take that as a yes, it's still out there and it will be until the offers stop coming in and the best one of them is acceptable to the seller.

Just my humble opinion but at this point in time, wouldn't it be better for the seller to put it up on eBay with a lot of good photos (inside and out) with a very high BIN (a gazillion bucks) along with the make an offer option? Many probably don't know it exists, and is for sale.

zapper

 I made him an offer and was willing to pick it up today as he's 40 minutes away. I asked him to list all dates he finds on the components inside the phone, cords, network, bell?? and open the handset with pic's of the transmitter and receiver and dates.  The phone will be re listed by the seller.
Zapper

unbeldi

This set surfaced on eBay again for a starting price of $600, only to be withdrawn "because of error in the listing" at 07:08 EST.

This time around, the seller tried to appear a little bit more knowledgeable than the first time around, but still got the wrong advice from whomever they talked to:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/371644771278

Bell System - Bell Tel. Lab. Trial Set Telephone - 1956-  RARE
This is a rare telephone.  It was a phone used as a trial in Morris, Illinois trialling the first electronic switching office.
They only made 400-500 of these phones.  This is phone number 380.
Western Electric Headset.
Appears to be complete inside. 
See all photos for best description.
SOLD AS IS



Morris was in 1960, not 1956. This set is from the Crystal Lake trial, just as I suspected previously.  Now, with the pictures of the inside, and the sound slots in the housing, we have proof.  The estate that the seller happened to plunder, probably belong to one of the Bell Labs engineers of the time, the seller is closely located to labs, and South Orange, like all the Oranges, was an elegant neighborhood to live at the time.