I was looking at
this. I made a bid at the end and had been watching it because I thought perhaps it had a converted 10 button dial. This was partly due to a
conversation between Dave F and paul-f on the subject.
In the course of this Dan found a phone that was considered a possibility, having what looked like less sun damaged star and pound buttons, but it turned out it was a regular 2500. However, a question which I'm surprised wasn't asked is
why the buttons looked that way. I later had a little fun looking for a convertible dial and came across a yellow 2500 instead but soon realized that it was like Dan's phone, then I recognized the plastic! It was the same plastic I saw on my 25A3 dial from
The Beast, which no one identified.
So I bid and won it for $5.00, and upon arriving it was clear that the #and * keys were that same strange chalky feeling, porous plastic that I found on The Beast.
So what I wanted to know is was this mixed plastic dial produced regularly, if so during what period, and most of all why? To distinguish the special function keys for the users' sake? And if so wouldn't it be cheaper to just color the plastic differently instead of using another plastic entirely? I just spotted another on ebay btw (bingster please feel free to delete that bit if it happens to violate our auction discussion rules; I merely wished to provide a bit of perspective.)
Note that the dial bears no refurb markings.
Any insights anyone may have are welcome!