Find of the Month - February 2011

[AE_Collector]

Please post your February 2011 "Finds of the Month" nominations here.  Thank you!

[Jim Stettler]

I nominate Kidphone's $89.00 (+s&h) 3/30 B1.

A beautiful phone Doug.

Here's the link to the discussion thread about Doug's latest find and there are lots more pictures there as well:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=4281.msg55325#msg55325

Jim

[AE_Collector]

Here's February's next "Find of the Month" candidate!

Adam (AdamAnt316) snagged this AutoVON adjunct dial for a whopping $10 at a flea market ovver the weekend! Here's the scoop on it:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=4290.new#new

Terry

[stopthemachine]

I'd like to nominate myself for picking up this gorgeous beige 701B SOFT plastic Princess phone with "9-59" dates for just $24.50 plus $8.10 for s/h.  I haven't had the chance to clean it up yet, but it looks fantastic. 

I'm posting the auction pix so NO, that's not my hand, nor have I ever worn nail polish.  Hahaha. 

I have never seen such an early Princess phone--when in '59 were they actually released?  Inside dates are from 8-59 so I'm sure it has all the original parts (except the modular line cord--fortunately, the case wasn't made modular.)

Dan

[Dennis Markham]

Dan, Is that color Light Beige?  There may be a color code inside on the back of the dial.  That is an early one.  According to Paul F's site the Princess was released in 1959 in five colors, Light Beige, Aqua Blue, Turquoise, Rose Pink and White.  

Paul's Site Info:  http://www.paul-f.com/wePrincess.html

I find it interesting that they made it in Turquoise in 1959 but the Model 500 release date for Turquoise was not until 1964, however there MAY be some dispute to that date.  (There may be some breaking news by another member in the coming days as to an earlier Turquoise 500).

Great phone and great find.  I also did not know they made the Princess with Tenite (soft plastic).  A 9-59 date in a model 500 would more than likely be ABS plastic, unless it was Black.  I'm sure others can enlighten us to that fact.

Nice Princess.  The condition is very nice.

~Dennis

[stopthemachine]

Dan, Is that color Light Beige?  There may be a color code inside on the back of the dial.  That is an early one.  According to Paul F's site the Princess was released in 1959 in five colors, Light Beige, Aqua Blue, Turquoise, Rose Pink and White.  

Paul's Site Info:  http://www.paul-f.com/wePrincess.html

I find it interesting that they made it in Turquoise in 1959 but the Model 500 release date for Turquoise was not until 1964, however there MAY be some dispute to that date.  (There may be some breaking news by another member in the coming days as to an earlier Turquoise 500).

Great phone and great find.  I also did not know they made the Princess with Tenite (soft plastic).  A 9-59 date in a model 500 would more than likely be ABS plastic, unless it was Black.  I'm sure others can enlighten us to that fact.

Nice Princess.  The condition is very nice.

~Dennis

Hi Dennis,

It appears to be a beige set that has slightly darkened with age.  (I compared the outside color to the color underneath the receiver caps.)  I'll check inside the case and see if there's a color code under the dial; that's a good point because with this being such an early Princess phone, it might have been stamped on it.  The dial has a little bit of staining (from the inside) so this will give me a good opportunity to check for a color code and see what the stain is from at the same time.

I love the early six-hole receiver cap.  I'm not certain it's a soft plastic set, but it APPEARS to be(or should I say feels like it is?).  I did the "fingernail test," but I'll do another one while comparing it to a later model Princess phone.

Did WE use the same plastic for the early color 500 sets that it did for its color 300 series of phones?

Dan

[jsowers]

It looks like light beige to me, and if it's 9-59, it's hard (ABS) plastic. I don't think Princesses were ever made in soft (Tenite) plastic and they were likely the reason for the change to hard plastic when it happened, which is right before they started making the Princess. You do have a nice, early 701 Princess there.

I have an ivory Princess with a soft plastic handset from the mid 50s, but it's a refurb and the housing is hard plastic. Just because there are six holes in the earcap does not mean a phone is soft plastic. They went to seven holes about January, 1960 or so, six months into hard plastic.

Do you have a soft plastic phone with plastics dated before 6-59? If so, tap the handset with your (non-painted) fingernail and listen to the sound. Then tap the handset on this Princess and see what sound it makes. Soft plastic will tap with a dull sound and hard plastic will be a sharp sound. I saw your comment about tapping them, but wanted to elaborate so everyone knew what to expect.

You can also take some denatured alcohol to the inside and see if the plastic starts to dissolve. That's pretty drastic, so do at your own peril. Hard plastic shines up well with denatured alcohol, but soft plastic will come off on a paper towel and turn into a mess.

About the color code thing, Princess dials didn't have color codes on the dials. That was only on the 500 series phones.

[Dennis Markham]

About the color code thing, Princess dials didn't have color codes on the dials. That was only on the 500 series phones.

I could have sworn I've seen some marked with a color code.  Maybe I'm thinking of the later #9 dials on the 500 sets.  Thanks for setting me straight on that.....now I'm going to have to open up all my Princess phones and check.

[Adam]

About the color code thing, Princess dials didn't have color codes on the dials. That was only on the 500 series phones.

I could have sworn I've seen some marked with a color code.

But, respectfully, it does not make sense that Princess dials had color codes, because they didn't have colors!  :-)

[Dennis Markham]

Great point, Dave.  No colored dial plate, no color code.  Thank you.

[stopthemachine]

Do you have a soft plastic phone with plastics dated before 6-59? If so, tap the handset with your (non-painted) fingernail and listen to the sound. Then tap the handset on this Princess and see what sound it makes. Soft plastic will tap with a dull sound and hard plastic will be a sharp sound. I saw your comment about tapping them, but wanted to elaborate so everyone knew what to expect.

Oh!  Good point--I do, actually; it's a light beige 500 set with all dates, inside and out, from 1957, I believe.  I will have to do the comparison between the sets.

Also, out of curiosity, what month in 1959 did WE begin releasing the Princess phone after the initial trial runs in select locations?  Anyone have one earlier than 9-59?  I was pretty shocked when I saw the date. 

I guess it's often the case that the six-hole receivers caps are soft plastic, but by no means a rule--I think with the switch to PVC plastics around the same time, I just take it for granted sometimes that all the six-hole receiver caps are.

That's why I love this board--I really learn so much, and it also helps me recall info and facts that I used to remember.  Haha.    Thank you. 

[jsowers]

Also, out of curiosity, what month in 1959 did WE begin releasing the Princess phone after the initial trial runs in select locations?  Anyone have one earlier than 9-59?  I was pretty shocked when I saw the date.  

I have a Princess keychain from an open house at the Shadeland Ave. plant in Indianapolis that says "September, 1959." That's where the Princess was made and likely that's the month and year the public first learned about it. I don't think they were advertised or installed until early 1960, and then in limited areas. But it could have been late 1959. Here is a link to a picture of that keychain, posted on the Forum last October.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=3515.0;attach=18370

Here's a post by JimH from October, 2009 of a Princess he found from 7-59.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=1589.0

It had a soft plastic handset. You can really tell the difference in the fading of the plastics. The lighter colors of soft plastic tended to turn lighter rather than darker when exposed to UV light.

So it looks like July, 1959 may be the starting point for manufacture of the Princess phone. I haven't seen anything earlier than that. June, 1959 was when hard plastic started to filter into all the 500 set parts. Parts like 500 dial faces and 500U mushrooms took about 6 months to exhaust (they were manufactured elsewhere). So there were many phones with combination plastics made in the latter half of 1959.

[cihensley@aol.com]

But development started before 9-59. I have a pink set that was probably used in a field trial that has T&R elements dated 3-57. There is no date on the bottom. It has an engraved F(followed by some numbers) and 129 stamped in ink on the bottom. Also, the light switch is in the front versus the back on production models.

Chuck

[Dennis Markham]

Chuck, your phone sounds very interesting.  It would be nice to see a few photos some time if you can post some.

[cihensley@aol.com]

Yes. I will toward the end of next week. I am receiving a new camera that I will use.

Chuck