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WECo 592 / 1A Speakerphone Complete Unit - The Craziness Continues $3550.00 !!!

Started by Doug Rose, May 11, 2011, 12:42:18 PM

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Doug Rose

There are no words!

http://tinyurl.com/3syzepy

<edit> Sold for $3550.00
Kidphone

paul-f

How about "Ka-ching!"
Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

.

Adam

I'll admit, that was a lot of money.

But that set might be the rarest of 500 type phones.  In the more than three years I've been following old phones on eBay, I've never seen one on eBay before.

Not to mention, this one looks like it's in perfect shape, AND it is complete with all the components, including the 1A/1A1 speakerphone controller box.

Forget about the rare phone set itself, while Western Electric 3A speakerphone control units come up occasionally on eBay, I've never personally seen a 1A/1A1 speakerphone control unit come up there before.
Adam Forrest
Los Angeles Telephone - A proud part of the global C*Net System
C*Net 1-383-4820

Kenny C

#3
I saw one on ebay less than a year ago. The best I can remember it was just the phone and It went over 800
In memory of
  Marie B.
1926-2010

Kenny C

Did anyone notice in the last picture that on the side of the box there is 11-54 stamped?
In memory of
  Marie B.
1926-2010

Adam

That's the right date range for a 1A speakerphone.
Adam Forrest
Los Angeles Telephone - A proud part of the global C*Net System
C*Net 1-383-4820

paul-f

The 592 / 1A Speakerphone was in limited production in July 1954 and more generally available in December 1954, so this one is on the early end of the production range.

There's BSP reference info and more photos here:
   http://www.paul-f.com/we500typ.htm#592

BTW: The unit shown on the site was "discovered" by set designers at Paramount, who just "had to have it" for a conference room set in the film "Shutter Island."  Apparently any footage of it ended up on the cutting room floor, as I didn't see it in the final version.
Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

.

GG



I guessed $2,500 before clicking the link.  Off by a thousand.  Holy cow.

However, the amplifier unit almost certainly uses tubes, and tubes are still produced in Russia and sold at geek-oriented electronics shops in the US, so there's a high likelihood it can be made to work and the owner can stock up on spare tubes to keep it working. 

Probably has the nice "warm" sound of a tube amplifier too. 

Dave F

Gadzooks!!  Yes, it's an exceedingly rare item but, nevertheless, I thought that $1500 would have been just about the upper limit.  eBay is forever full of surprises.

I've got the phone and the speaker, but not (yet) the 1A Speakerphone control unit.  Notice that at some time in the dim past, a do-gooder (translation: moron) did all future collectors a favor by cutting off the ends of the line cords.

[A side note: I have a BSP which gives instructions on how to use a screwdriver.  I always found it humorous and a little crazy that they would expend all that effort to explain how to do something that everybody already knows (or should know) how to do.  In retrospect, it wasn't all that crazy, as the previous owner of this phone might have learned a useful skill had he taken the time to read that BSP.]

Fortunately, the cord tail on the phone is plenty long and could easily have spade leads reapplied if and when the necessity arises.

Dennis Markham

Dave, I read or heard somewhere (reliable information :) ) that at some point customers were instructed to bring their phones to a phone center when they were ready to turn them back in.  They were told to cut the cord close to the back of the phone.  Perhaps this is why there are times when we see phones with short pig-tail mounting cords.  I know in the case of yours it wasn't cut that short.

Dave F

Quote from: Dennis Markham on May 12, 2011, 04:26:01 PM
Dave, I read or heard somewhere (reliable information :) ) that at some point customers were instructed to bring their phones to a phone center when they were ready to turn them back in.  They were told to cut the cord close to the back of the phone.  Perhaps this is why there are times when we see phones with short pig-tail mounting cords.  I know in the case of yours it wasn't cut that short.
Hi Dennis,

Yes, I do remember that folks were told to cut the cord prior to turning in their phone to the phone store, but I betcha that this 592 was removed from service many years prior to that time.  This looks more like a simple case of laziness than anything else, as the control unit was probably mounted in an inconvenient place, and "whoever" didn't want to crawl under the desk to unhook it.  It's always sad to see any nice rare phone mistreated.

It's possible that the line cord from an old 544 (or similar) keyset might make a reasonable replacement, but until I find that elusive control unit, there isn't too much motivation to investigate.

Dave