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Here I go causing trouble again.

Started by Dan/Panther, March 07, 2009, 05:30:04 PM

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Dan/Panther

I understand that the designation of 53, on WE's was for Cherry Red. I recently posted a photo of a red dial 7D-3 dated 3-56.
Now here comes the fly in the ointment.
I have an all matching WE-500, dated 3-59, 7D-3, Black number wheel ?
Now my take on the color match for dials.
I would guess that the dials were made and assembled in the same facility.
I would also guess that the double injection molded faces were made in a location most probably not the same as the dials were made.
Now my question, why would they make dials in one factory, and designate what color they would be, when the faces were most likely added in a different assembly plant. It seems like a lot of unnecessary tracking, to make sure the right face got matched to the proper dial.

D/P

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

Dan

Dan, I would say that was a mistake by WE because the 3 designates a black number plate. Possibly someone at one time snuck a black dial in there but if the dates match, I would lean towards a mistake. Aren't all colored dials of this era also 7-C's?
"Imagine how weird telephones would look if our ears weren't so close to our mouths." - Steven Wright

Dan/Panther

#2
Here's another 7D-3. Dated with all matching numbers 4-54.
Maybe I had it backwards. So 3, and 53 designate black, or is it just 3 that designates black, and 53 designates Red ?
D/P

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

bingster

-3 is black -53 is red.  Here's a partial list:

-3 Black
-4 Ivory
-6 Old Brass
-7 Statuary Bronze
-8 Oxidized Silver
-12 Dark Gold
-16 Old Rose
-18 Dark Blue
-19 Gray-Green
-20 Pekin Red
-50 Ivory
-51 Green, Moss Green, Mistletoe Green 
-52 Gray, Dark Gray, Oxford Gray
-53 Red, Cherry Red 
-54 Brown, Mahogany Brown
-55 Beige, Dark Beige, Rose Beige
-56 Yellow, Pastel Yellow 
-57 Blue, Medium Blue, Dark Blue, Mediterranean Blue
-58 White 
-59 Pink, Rose Pink 
-60 Beige, Light Beige 
-61 Light Gray, Gray
-62 Aqua Blue, Blue
-64 Turquoise  
-93 Lemon Yellow
-104 Chocolate Brown 
-105 Dark Green, Hunter Green 
-106 Lime Green 
-114 Bright Red 
-115 Royal Blue, Dark Blue
-123 Butter Yellow 
-124 Rust
-139 Charcoal Gray
-142 Midnight Blue
-143 Burgundy
-144 Cinnabar
-145 Blue, Teal (almost identical to -305)
-146 Dark Teaberry Pink
-147 Creamy Apricot Pink
-170 Mocha
-302 Green, Forest
-303 Yellow, Sunny
-305 Country Blue (almost identical to -145)
= DARRIN =



Dan/Panther

Bingster;
Thanks for the chart again.
I'm really having a hard time getting my head around that all of my 500's with matching numbers just happen to have the wrong colored number wheel.
Oh well....
D/P

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

Dennis Markham

I believe that anything on Bingster's chart here after -64 (Turquoise) would be on later produced telephones.  For the most parts the ones we've been talking about on the forum seem to be 1950's to mid 1960's with some exception.

The fact is that the color suffix does indicate the color of the dial ring, not necessarily the color of the plastic housing as they came down the line.  On early two-tone phones a two-tone black and ivory for instance would have a dial marked -3 because the number ring was black.  That is the only exception that I know of (two-tones) where the entire phone didn't match the color suffix on the dial.

A fellow collector sent me the attached photo.  He said it was from a Western Electric magazine dated 1958.  The quality isn't the greatest but it gives the idea of how many of these phones were made.  You'd think they'd be everywhere.  It is believed it was taken around 1957 - 1958.

bingster

What an amazing photo. I'll take a pallet of pink and a pallet of red. :o


= DARRIN =



Dennis Markham

The pallet of light gray wouldn't be bad either, or the aqua.....or the white.......

HobieSport


McHeath

Holy Phone Heaven Batman!  Geepers!  And to think that almost all of them are probably in landfills somewhere...

Ellen

That tall stack of reds has 500 phones in it.  I see 15 pallets, of varying fullnesses. 15 x 500 = 7,500.  That might be about right for my small city in those days, at 2 phones per house.  Plus a few hundred in the air.  It looks like the man in the center is polishing, and the guy in the front inspecting.  I wonder what kind of phone is on his desk?

HobieSport

For some reason I keep expecting to see the Easter Bunny somewhere in that picture. Maybe it's all those pallets of colored shells...

Dan/Panther

Matt;
if you close youir eyes and click your heels together 3 times you can see the Easter bunny.
D/P

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

HobieSport

There's no place like phone...There's no place like phone...
Yipes!  I may have just conjured up the wicked witch of the western electric!

Dan/Panther

Matt;
You owe me a need keyboard, I just spit Diet Coke all over mine.
D/P

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