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HEAVY BROWN ANTIQUE ANSWER ONLY HOTEL TELEPHONE PROP

Started by Doug Rose, March 12, 2011, 03:12:36 PM

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paul-f

Quote from: wds on March 12, 2011, 08:09:58 PM
I have an E1 handset, and the Western Electric stamp has been rubbed out.  I was told that anytime a WE handset was used by a phone company not affiliated with WE, that they were required to rub out the WE name. 

F1Ws had the WE name and they were intended to be sold outside the Bell System.

However, anything marked "Bell System" had to have that removed when sold outside the system.

To create a handle without any markings, WE would have to:

  • fill in the part of the die where the legend was with a blank plate (which would usually leave a visible rectangular box to grind down and refinish),
  • create a seperate die without the markings (which would cost big bucks) or
  • grind the surface down on production handsets to remove the marking.

Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

.

wds

Now I remember who told me that..........

Here's a picture of my E1 with the rubbed out name.  You can still see the W
Dave

Doug Rose

The one Andy has and the one that I have do not looked like anything was rubbed or ground out. Looks like it was never there. Mine is smooth from cap to cap and I cannot feel any indentation. I will clean mine up and post pictures....Doug
Kidphone

Doug Rose

Here is the handset cleaned up. Really no look or feel of an indent. Its A Western Electric Bell System F1 but has NONE of the markings.....Doug
Kidphone

wds

I looked at my F1's, and the area around the inscription is actually raised up a little bit.  Your second to last picture looks like the area of the inscription is actually artificially flat looking.  I suppose it could have been cast that way, or my guess if the picture is accurate, is that the inscription was rubbed out.  As the area around the inscription and the inscription on my phones is raised, then rubbing them out would render the handle smooth once rubbed out.  The inscription on the E1 is recessed and a little harder to hide when rubbed out.    
Dave

bingster

Are yours raised up a bit, or do they have grooves worn in them from sitting on the cradle?  Mine (the ones that are on 302s) have slight grooves worn in at each end of the embossing, which give the impression that the center is raised.  Why soft plastic can wear into bakelite is anybody's guess.
= DARRIN =



wds

I have the cradle wear on a couple of my F1's, and no wear on a couple others.  The E1 handle is almost flat where the lettering is embossed into the handle.  The F1 is thicker in the area of the embossing.  If you put a straight edge on the F1, you can see how much it's raised up in the center, where the embossing is.  When you sand the embossing off, the handle still looks natural, but with the E1, it's very evident that embossing has been removed.  Try putting a straight edge on the F1  that has no embossing and compare it to a normal F1.  I don't have a F1 with the embossing removed so I can't compare the differences.  K1WI's handset looks like it was cast without the embossing, but Doug's handset looks like it was rubbed out, (picture f15.jpg) and the handle seems flattened out in the area of the embossing.  But, it could just be the picture.  Very interesting discussing about the embossing, or lack thereof.
Dave

Doug Rose

Quote from: wds on March 19, 2011, 08:19:10 PM
I have the cradle wear on a couple of my F1's, and no wear on a couple others.  The E1 handle is almost flat where the lettering is embossed into the handle.  The F1 is thicker in the area of the embossing.  If you put a straight edge on the F1, you can see how much it's raised up in the center, where the embossing is.  When you sand the embossing off, the handle still looks natural, but with the E1, it's very evident that embossing has been removed.  Try putting a straight edge on the F1  that has no embossing and compare it to a normal F1.  I don't have a F1 with the embossing removed so I can't compare the differences.  K1WI's handset looks like it was cast without the embossing, but Doug's handset looks like it was rubbed out, and the handle seems flattened out in the area of the embossing.  But, it could just be the picture.  Very interesting discussing about the embossing, or lack thereof.
Dave....I have seen them rubbed out before and there is always a telltale mark. This is clean and straight and I can't see how this looks rubbed out. To me this would be an awful lot of trouble to make something look this good to get Western Electric or Bell System off of it....Just my opinion....thanks....Doug
Kidphone

GG



How'bout this:  Refurbishing outfits that used highspeed buffing wheels?  Highspeed buffing using the right buffing compounds, will take off just about anything and produce a smooth (though not quite flat) surface.

So they score a bunch of WE material as surplus, and have a client that wants anonymized handsets that'll look new, as input to that client's manufacturing process to produce something new to sell under their own name, or something like that.  Presto!, brand new F1 handsets with no name.   

BTW, when I was a kid we referred to similar methods as "de-monopolizing."  As in, "That one has BSP/NFS (Bell System Property, Nor For Sale) all over it, it needs to be de-monopolized." 

Doug Rose

#24
Quote from: GG on March 26, 2011, 11:57:03 PM


How'bout this:  Refurbishing outfits that used highspeed buffing wheels?  Highspeed buffing using the right buffing compounds, will take off just about anything and produce a smooth (though not quite flat) surface.

So they score a bunch of WE material as surplus, and have a client that wants anonymized handsets that'll look new, as input to that client's manufacturing process to produce something new to sell under their own name, or something like that.  Presto!, brand new F1 handsets with no name.    

BTW, when I was a kid we referred to similar methods as "de-monopolizing."  As in, "That one has BSP/NFS (Bell System Property, Nor For Sale) all over it, it needs to be de-monopolized."  
"take off just about anything and produce a smooth (though not quite flat) surface."

GG...does the surface looks flat to you on mine? I cannot feel any indents. Do you think this was buffed away?....Kidphone
Kidphone

GG



Hard to tell from the photos.  The only way I could be sure is to look at it up close in person and feel the surface.