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500 color rarity

Started by Signguy, November 03, 2011, 10:58:29 AM

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Signguy

Being new to this I was wondering what the hardest colors to find are in the WE500 sets?    Cheers... Ell

Dave F

Welcome to the Forum.

Without a doubt, the toughest WE 500 set "color" to find is Transparent (color code -29)

Dave

Signguy

Thanks....
I worked for the phone company for 38 years (construction), retiring in 1991, and never knew such a phone existed.

I guess I have a long way to go with only 2 phones. Both those were ones we had in the house forty years ago. Since I could get them for free I guess I should have gotten one of every color. LOL

Whats next on the list?

Cheers.....Ell

Dave F

Well, in my opinion, the four next rarest colors would be Oxford Gray, Mahogany, Mediterranean Blue, and Rose Beige, in that descending order.  These colors were only produced for about 4 years in the mid 1950s.  I'm sure others will chime in with their opinions, so let's see what they say.

Dave F

Quote from: Signguy on November 03, 2011, 02:02:44 PM

....I guess I have a long way to go with only 2 phones....

By the way, don't feel too dejected.  Remember the old Chinese proverb: "Journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step".  As most of the collectors on this Forum will tell you, once you get the collecting fever it's all downhill from there!  Keep your eyes open, and pretty soon you won't be able to move or turn around without bumping into all the phones you will have accumulated!

DF

Signguy

Dave

We have had the collector bug for almost 50 years but since everything else is so hard for us to find we thought a "lighthearted" stab at a few colored dial sets would give us something else to look for. I can see that we could nerver approach the expertise or the collections of you folks.

I have collected pre 1939 porcelain telephone signs and advertising for over 40 years. We also collect Roseville pottery, celluloid advertising mirrors, colored glass kitched items of the 20's and 30's, high end juice reamers, animal figural ashtrays (even though we don't smoke), Gutmann & Doench hand colored prints (pre 1925), oak furniture, Brish pottery frogs and turtles,  glass animal figural powder jars, glass insulators, tin over cardboard beer signs, high school yearbooks from the mid 1950's with very graphic covers only, costume jewelry, colored glass lamps (old), fly fishing equipment (newer), etc etc.

We like to display our collectables in an orderly fashion but now lack of room is our "enemy".

Thanks again. I really appreciate the feedback.

Cheers..... Ell

AE_Collector

Quote from: Signguy on November 03, 2011, 02:02:44 PM
Thanks....
I worked for the phone company for 38 years
Since I could get them for free I guess I should have gotten one of every color. LOL

Join the club! And while on the topic, there is nothing more difficult to do than pay MONEY for a phone that you could have had for free years ago but didn't bother.

Welcome to the Rotary Forum.

Terry

Signguy

Terry.... Thanks for the welcome.

Cheers..... Ell

PS... By the way Ell is short for Ellsworth which only my mother called me.

Willytx

I have a beautiful Mediterranean Blue 500. Every piece of the phone is painted except the dial plate and coiled cord. The phone is a total mutt, The handset was tan and marked AT&T, a black receiver cap, red transmitter cap and beige shell. No two parts are even in the same year. Whoever did the paint job was a master.

At least it looks nice sitting on my desk.

jsowers

Ell, welcome to the Forum and it sounds like you and your wife have lots and lots of collections to keep you busy. In addition to phones and phone memorabilia, I collect old radios and TVs, stereo equipment, old computers, old German glass Christmas ornaments and Blue Ridge pottery, among other things.

The color of phone that's the rarest is the color you need to complete your collection! Just when you want something to show up, that's when it won't. I've been looking for a mahogany brown soft plastic 554 for longer than Vern's been looking for an ivory 1554.

Willytx, I also have a mutt, and it's an OLD mutt, judging by the number card. I call it an early refurb. It's painted aqua blue, but inside it's mahogany brown and pink. See the pictures below, which I've posted before, but it was a while back. It's all soft plastic. I haven't removed the paint.
Jonathan

Dave F

Quote from: jsowers on November 04, 2011, 09:39:05 AM
.....I've been looking for a mahogany brown soft plastic 554 for longer than Vern's been looking for an ivory 1554.....

Me too! I've been searching for a mahogany 554 for at least 30 years.

GG



PMG Australia type 801 in black is also somewhat scarce, as is AE 80 in dark gray, and GPO 741 wall sets in red. 

Really rare: Any AE Monophone in Lilac (light violet) from 1A to 34, and I don't know if they made 40s in that color.   AE 2-line Monophones in Lilac: Ray's rescued ones may be the only surviving examples.  GPO 164 and 232 in Mahogany: only a few around as far as I know. 

 

kleenax

Quote from: Dave F on November 04, 2011, 12:34:06 PM
Quote from: jsowers on November 04, 2011, 09:39:05 AM
.....I've been looking for a mahogany brown soft plastic 554 for longer than Vern's been looking for an ivory 1554.....

Me too! I've been searching for a mahogany 554 for at least 30 years.

I actually saw a 2-line 500 in Mahogany at the last Abilene, KS show.
Ray Kotke
Recumbent Casting, LLC

Dave F

Quote from: kleenax on November 04, 2011, 10:38:37 PM

I actually saw a 2-line 500 in Mahogany at the last Abilene, KS show.


Ray,

I've never seen a two-line (510) set in Mahogany, but I do have this rare Mahogany 544B Keyset.

Dave

GG



Nice!  I think of those 4-button sets as two CO lines plus a dial-selector intercom on line 3, or more likely, three CO lines and you have a separate "squawk box" on your desk for intercom.  Was the last line key convertible to momentary contact?  That would have provided the option of a 1-line set with hold, an intercom talking path on line 2, and using the last button to code-buzz the other intercom stations.