Auction 53 - 1956 WE 500 in Yellow

[bingster]

Here's a tricky one to judge.  Yellow soft plastic is one of the most sought after soft colors, and finding one that hasn't whitened is a bit difficult.  This one is all original except for the dial, which is from a phone of a different color and year.  So put your thinking caps on and put in a guess for the auction's final price!

> 1956 WE 500 in Yellow

S C O R E B O A R D
$  75.99 - Bill Cahill (Winner!)
Sold for $160.49
$179.99 - Dan
$225.00 - Jester
$277.88 - Dennis Markham
$310.00 - Russkirk
$350.00 - JorgeAmely
$425.00 - Kennyc1955
$436.00 - bingster
$480.00 - Brinybay
$560.01 - HarrySmith

[Dennis Markham]

That dial card is one that Finlover liked to use on some of his phones.  Initially I thought this may be a re-sell of one of his works of art.  But I believe that card is shown on the Telephone Archive here:

http://www.telephonearchive.com/numbercards/we/we_type_four.html

With all of that being said, I'll say $277.88.  It's getting difficult to predict the prices after seeing the $600 mushroom and $750 Mahogany set on the high end yet BenHutcherson's red with gray straight cords only sells for $116.

[Bill Cahill]

It's not the original handset cord.
I'd guess 75.99.
Bill Cahill

[Dan]

I'll go $179.99. I would like to have the original wall cord included. Not having the original dial bothers me a little too.

[Doug Rose]

It's not the original handset cord.
I'd guess 75.99.
Bill Cahill

In my never ending quest to be brought up to speed with 500 sets, why is this not the original handset cord? I thought the early softplastics came with this dark gray cord.

Did the dark gray cords ever tangle or kink? Every one I have seen on eBay looks perfect....Doug

[Wallphone]

How does a dial end up being eleven months older than the phone?
I thought that Western Electric rotated their stock better than that.
Dougpav

[bingster]

I can't see the date on the cord restraint, but it sure looks like an original grey cord to me.  The various colors didn't all have matching cords at first, and used the grey ones.

[Kenny C]

425.00

Kenny C.

[HarrySmith]

Since his Brown one went for over $700.00 I am going to guess $560.01
He also has a nice Red one up!

[Bill Cahill]

O.K. I stand corrected. Wasn't aware of that on the cord.
But, the dial still looks funny.
Bill Cahill

[bingster]

Yeah, I think the dial is the kicker.  It's not just the wrong year, but it comes from an ivory set. 

[Jester]

How does a dial end up being eleven months older than the phone?
I thought that Western Electric rotated their stock better than that.
Dougpav
[/quote}

For my own guess on ending price, I'll go $225.00.  To answer Doug's question, this dial could have been switched in the field.  Many repair parts were refurbished & recycled.

[Greg G.]

$480

[Bill Cahill]

O.K. Sometimes it's good to be legally blind, and, have Zoomtext.
I just looked closely at the pictures.
First, you are right about the cord. I see what looks like 1-56 stamped on the part.
I compared that to the block picture showing 8-56, and, it coincides.
However, there is one part that makes it look like a re furbish.
To me it looks like the dial housing, not the cover, the housing, is made of white plastic.
That can't be original.
Looks like a refurb to me.
Bill Cahill
I also don't believe, and, I know I could be wrong, that they had plastic finger dials in '56.

Hmm. No bids, yet.

[Wallphone]

Thanks for the reply on the dial Bingster & Jester. I didn't know enough about 500's to know that they color coded the dials too, but Bingster did. Here is a color chart from the Porticus site via Paul F's site.
> http://www.porticus.org/bell/images/we-color-chart2.jpg <
I thought that when the dial is upgraded they put a newer dial in, not an older one.
Did Western Electric refurbish dials too? And if they did, did they put some sort of mark on them to I.D. them as refurbished? I was thinking that by the time they got to the #7 dial that they were throwaways because it would cost more to repair one than to make a new one on their high production machines.
Dougpav