Second Chance Offer

[Sargeguy]

I missed out on this auction the first time around, and was kicking myself for not biddibg more for what looks like a relatively well-preserved Imperial with matching subset:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Antique-Telephone_W0QQitemZ160314384967QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCorded_Phones?hash=item160314384967&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2|65%3A13|39%3A1|240%3A1318

I was pleasantly surprised when I recieved a Second Chance offer for the same phone for $23:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160317946954&ssPageName=ADME:X:SCO:US:1123

I am a little concerned by the seller's lack of feedback, but I figure that I am protected by making the purchase through PayPal.


( dead links 06-24-21 )

[Dan/Panther]

Sarge;
At $23.00 even if he does flake, it's worth the chance. I'll give you $30.00, just have him send it to me.
D/P

[Dennis Markham]

I recognize the original purchaser's moniker and feedback.  He's a collector in California.  Used to belong to the clubs I think.  But not any more.  Wonder what happened?  Looks like a great buy.  I just spent $51 (including shipping) for this one with no ringer box.  The F1 is painted on the one I bought.  Apparently lost in space.  Still hasn't arrived 9 days later.

http://tinyurl.com/c5an46 ( dead link 06-24-21 )

[Sargeguy]

Yours is chrome, mine looks like its copper/gold.  I like yours better.  Did these have bare metal bases or were they covered?

I did a quick search.  Apparently there are two types of these, the "Imperial" and the "Continental".  The Imperials had white thermoplastic handsets.  They were issued in 1950 as 75th anniversary special editions.  The "Continentals"were issued in 1955 and had a number of different colors.  These had painted F-1 handsets.

[Dennis Markham]

From what I understand the Imperials could have had the thermoplastic handsets also.  The one I do have in bronze has the plastic handset, not painted.  They come in two colors, the bronze and chrome colored.  The Continental sets are as you said and did come in all of the colors that 500's were made in at that time.  Most have the 5J dials, but there are others.

[bingster]

I'm glad somebody on the forum wound up with the silver one, Dennis.  I had intended on bidding on it but completely forgot about the auction, and missed it by ten minutes.  The brilliant thing about that particular one is that it appears to have the shimmery grey silk cords on it.  I haven't seen those on newer phones, but they were apparently called for on the old B1 and D1 painted sets from the 1930s.  Depending on the color of the phone, they came with grey, gold or brown silk cords, rather than cotton.

Incidentally, the painted Continental, the Silver Continental, and the Imperial (gold), all were introduced together in 1951.  According to Paul Fassbender, anyway.  Silver Continental and Imperial could come with either ivory painted F1s or thermoplastic F1s.

[Sargeguy]

That makes sense.  If the purpose was to get rid of all the old parts, they probably used up the  thermoplastic handsets from the color 302s as well.  By 1955 they would have been issuing 5302s and wouldn't need F-1s as much.

So does mine look like a 1950 or a 1955?  I think the handset looks painted, but its hard to tell.

[bingster]

It's painted.  The color's too bright and flat to be plastic.  There's a little scrape on the paint on the transmitter housing as well, that shows the color beneath the paint.

[Dennis Markham]

I kept referring to it erroneously as "bronze".  Thanks Bingster for correcting me on that.  It is Gold.  I have one of those and it kind of has streak marks in it.  I'd like to get a nicer one.  The problem now is that the phone (I just bought) has been on the road for almost ten days.  The tracking number shows the last action was when it left Richmond, California on February 18th.  You'd think there would have been some movement by now.  Maybe tomorrow it will show up on the front porch.

I do like the looks of that handset cord.  I was surprised I got it for that amount.  I think a year ago it would have sold closer to  $100.  I paid about $125 for the gold one I have (shown below) which was too much, I think.  Although the handset is Ivory plastic and not painted and a nice base cover.  The handset has some yellowing.  I have done nothing to it since I got it.  The finger wheel will need replacing and it has a coiled vinyl cord.  Greg, I can't tell from the photo what the date may be on yours.  Whatever year the 75th anniversary was, more than likely.

Added Info:  I forgot that this gold Imperial came with a 685A subset too.  Unfortunately the beige cover was in many pieces when it arrived.

[benhutcherson]

It sure looks like you both got a heck of a deal on those! Glad someone here on the forum got them.

[bingster]

The tracking number shows the last action was when it left Richmond, California on February 18th.  You'd think there would have been some movement by now.  Maybe tomorrow it will show up on the front porch.

I wish the post office was better about the tracking numbers.  I've had it happen both ways:  Either the package shows no movement whatsoever until it shows up on the doorstep, or it accurately shows every movement along the way.  There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.

[benhutcherson]

I think that what it comes down to with the post office how diligent the employees are with scanning the package along the way.

UPS's tracking system is miles better, and they always scan every package at every stop. If UPS wanted to, they could probably tell you the exact latitude and longitude of your package at any given instance.

I have most of my packages shipped to my school address, where they are delivered to the mail room. The mail room people then sort them, write your last name on the side of the box, shelf them, and put cards in the individual boxes to tell you that you have a package to claim. I've had it happen before that I've gotten an e-mail informing me that my UPS package has been delivered, only to walk over to the mail room and find that they haven't even touched the packages from the UPS shipment yet. The e-mail, as it turned out, had come in within a minute of the driver scanning my package on his hand-held scanner.

[Dennis Markham]

UPS is amazing with their system.  As you said, I've watched the UPS driver drive down my street, grab my box off the front porch, sit down at the computer and log onto their site to see that my box was "left on porch".

There was a special on one of the cable channels recently showing how their operation works.  Ben is near the hub down there in Kentucky.  I'm pretty sure everything goes through Louisville's Standiford Airport.

[benhutcherson]

Dennis,

I know that Louisville is a major hub for UPS. In fact, Standiford Field is an international airport for that very reason-I'm almost positive that no one runs passenger international flights out of there.

Back about 10 years ago, there was a UPS strike, most of which was centered around Louisville. As I recall, it pretty well shut their whole system down.

[BDM]

Funny, one of my jobs with Chrysler is dealing with repair issues on Sprinter vans used by UPS. I get calls, and stories all the time. Those techs working on their trucks really cut the drivers in half. Human nature I guess