Kellogg 1000 "Redbar"

[Phonatic]

The phone gods are surely smiling upon me these days.  Last week was the $4.99 Shopgoodwill find of a 302 (pictured elsewhere), but here is my $10 local thrift store find.  This has to be one of the cleanest original phones I've encountered.  It's as if it was just taken out of its shipping carton.  Look how crisp the lettering is on the switchhook plunger and around the transmitter.  The insides are absolutely pristine.  It was so cheap, I think, because the dial was "frozen" or stuck.  On examination, one of the screws holding the finger stop in place had come out and was jamming up the innards of the dial and rattling around inside of it.  It's now free and smooth as silk.  Dials out, rings on incoming calls and I'm a happy camper.

Another thread on the forum provided the knowledge to (finally) tackle removing a Kellogg number card.  Of course, that had to happen before I could access the inside of the dial to get at that loose screw and reattach it.

The 1000 is a little later historically than I like my phones, but they're just so darned handsome how can one pass 'em up?  I'm running out of room . . .

[Kellogg Kitt]

That is an excellent find, especially for only $10.00!  At first, when I saw the pictures, I assumed that you had already cleaned it up.  It must have been kept in a clean, safe place for many years before arriving at the thrift store.

The Kellogg Redbar is one of my favorites.  It is so handsome on the outside, and well-designed on the inside, too!  I prefer it over a WE 302.

[Phonatic]

That is an excellent find, especially for only $10.00!  At first, when I saw the pictures, I assumed that you had already cleaned it up.  It must have been kept in a clean, safe place for many years before arriving at the thrift store.

The Kellogg Redbar is one of my favorites.  It is so handsome on the outside, and well-designed on the inside, too!  I prefer it over a WE 302.

Nope!  No cleaning done to it at all.  The only thing I did was to fix the dial issue and take the pictures.  I am happy to have found it!

[LarryInMichigan]

That phone looks great, especially for $10.  Is is bakelite of metal?  They were made both ways, but the bakelite ones outnumber the metal ones.  The dial on that phone is an AE.

Larry

[Phonatic]

It's Bakelite (I presume).  Were these, like some 302s, made of thermoplastic at any time?

[MMikeJBenN27]

I don't think so.  That's why so many Redbars get damaged in shipping - Bakelite is brittle, almost like glass, so if it isn't packed properly, it will probably arrive with a broken shell.  Your's sure is a nice one.  I brought one back to life that somebody spray-painted and messed with inside.  I have it working perfectly, but I wish there was a way to wire a Western Electric dial in it.

Mike

[TelePlay]

You can use the hot stick pin test on the inside of the housing to see it I it's bakelite or plastic, a hot pin will not melt bakelite.

[Kellogg Kitt]

It's Bakelite (I presume).  Were these, like some 302s, made of thermoplastic at any time?

I do not know for sure that they were never made in plastic, but I have never seen one.  I have seen many of these phones over the years.  Most were Bakelite; a few were metal; none were plastic.

For me, that adds to the "classic" appeal of these phones -- that they were never (as far as I know) made in plastic.

[rdelius]

They were made in brown black green white and  poss blue and maroon hard plastic similar to bakelite  The colors can turn a very dirty brown color and might bre missed

[LarryInMichigan]

I have one in blue and ivory: forum link.  The black ones, AFAIK, are all bakelite or metal, but most are bakelite.  There were brown bakelite ones which were for the Select-O-Phone systems.

Larry

[Kellogg Kitt]

I have one in blue and ivory: forum link.  The black ones, AFAIK, are all bakelite or metal, but most are bakelite.  There were brown bakelite ones which were for the Select-O-Phone systems.

I did see your rare and beautiful blue and ivory one when it was posted here.  I should have remembered that.  Indeed, a few were made in plastic.