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A Few Photos of my Collection - benhutcherson

Started by benhutcherson, September 27, 2008, 09:21:45 PM

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benhutcherson

Hello Folks,
I've seen a couple of other threads along the same lines, so thought that I'd come along and show off my own meager collection.



1)  Some colored 500 sets(the one on the far left is actually marked AT&T, although most parts are from the '60s)



2)  A Butt Set, which is a surprisingly useful thing to have



3)  Another late-model 500, and an AE80



4)  A pair of older 500s, including my '52 set on the left



5)  A non-dial early 500, a 5302(with the wrong dial plate), and a pair of 564HD key phones



6)  A pair of 554s


(More images of phone in my next post)

     http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=136.msg980#msg980

BDM

Nice, I can see you're a 500 series fan
--Brian--

St Clair Shores, MI

McHeath

It's a great collection!  I saw a green 500 like yours today in an antique store, they wanted 60 bucks for it, but yours is way nicer.  I really like the 500 series, nice clean modern lines, solid, mature technology, stable as bricks, comfortable to use, simple to use, good sound quality, made in a wide selection of colors.  Don't think we will ever again see any phone series made for 57 years essentially unchanged, which is the sign of a good design from the start.  (Geesh, if a cell phone design is made for 6 months it's a grandpa)  With a touch tone adaptor a 500 can navigate the wide wooly world of the 21st century, it's really a remarkable piece of engineering, an apex of good design and worth collecting.  And unlike a 57' Chevy or 49' Mercury the model 500 is an affordable piece of historic American design. 

Mark Stevens

Personally, I like the AE-80. I think they're an unappreciated, undervalued design. To me they look like a W.E. 500 that a custom shop worked their magic on...like those hot-rod '49 Mercs! They've chopped and channeled it, and shaved of all the bumps. They look race-ready!  :D

Bill

I'm the first to admit that I don't understand the fascination with 500 sets. But that's OK - to each his own, as they say.

Around here, anyway, antique stores and antique malls, as well as Antiques Shoppes, seem to be awash in 500 sets. Mostly black, of course, but not all. My question would be this, and if someone can help me with an answer, I'd be grateful. Are there particular colors or styles or dates or whatever that would make one more valuable to a collector? If so, I could snap it up, and since I have no interest in 500 sets, could pass it on here.

Bill

benhutcherson

#5
More of my phones, as promised above:


1)  Two more older 500s-left all from '55, the right a US Army Signal Corp set from the early '60s



2)  A nice mid-'60s 500 set, my second old phone, and the one that really got me hooked on 500s



3)  A pair of 302s



4)  The one that started it all for me, an AE40



5)  40AL candlestick



6)  And, finally, probably the best telephone I own, a 151AL dial candlestick


Thanks folks for looking


===================================


Thanks folks for the comments and compliments.

Bill,
As far as 500 sets go, let me see if I can explain my interest in them:

1. First of all, the 500 set, having a rather long production life, as well as such a wide distribution, and being a relatively flexible design, has a whole lot of variations in color, assembly style, and in additional features. There are enough variations, no matter how subtle or obvious, to keep a collector busy for years trying to assemble a representative collection that even is near complete.

2. Since, to many folks, a 500 set isn't exactly old or collectible, they can often be had relatively inexpensively. This is an important consideration to me, as a college student with limited income.

3. They're just good, solid workhorse telephones that almost always work. When something does need to be fixed, they're easy to work on and easy to find parts for.


As far as what to look for:

Any 500 set made before 1960, especially if the date codes on all the parts match.

Along those same lines, I tend to buy any 500 set I find with a metal fingerwheel, provided that it's not too expensive. The metal fingerwheels continued on into the mid-60s.

Colored sets made of soft plastic are always a good investment. These, of course, would be the older sets.

Any set in red, pink, or blue is good. Again, the older the better.

Finally, anything in some sort of non-standard configuration would be good to snap up. This would include two line phones, key phones, or anything else along those same lines.

BDM

Yep, I agree with the above. Now I'm no collector of 500 sets myself. Though, if a nice pre-1960 sets crosses my path, it may get snatched up. Especially if it's red or blue. I agree, those are probably the most desired colors.

No right or wrong in this hobby. Collect what fancies you. That's what it's all about ;)
--Brian--

St Clair Shores, MI

McHeath

I'm always on the lookout for 2 kinds of 500 sets, the oldest and newest possible.  If I could get a black 49' model and a black 06' model that would be pretty cool, but alas in that I've never seen any older than early 50's.  Saw a nice 53' model yesterday, all the dates matched in the handset to the base, and it was very very clean, even the bells still shined and it still had what looked like the original phone number card.  They wanted 45 dollars for it, which felt like too much, seeing as how I'm bailing out Wallstreet and all, I've got a busy financial week ahead.   ;) 

Someone I read once commented on how people often tend to collect things from their grandparents era, and probably newer stuff like the 500 may fit that description.  Collecting certainly has a lot of personal factors involved that make it a very individual taste activity, I might be willing to part with serious money over something that another will literally toss out with the trash. 

Dan/Panther

McHeath;
One mans trash.....

It amazes me when I click on an auction that says very old phone, and it has push buttons.

D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

McHeath

Yeah that's true, I've seen "really old phone" that turns out to be a late 80's 2500.  Lots of young folks see those as vintage phones eh?  They grew up with the throwaway cordless models of the last 20 years, and our Endless Cell Phone Treadmill of Fun™, so a 2500 is a classic to them. 



mienaichizu


Doug Houston

I just learned something here. It appears that a "Butt Set" is the lineman's handset. I'd always had a desire for one, and last year, in a local flea market, there were two of them,in different spaces, on the same day, and both priced at $10.00 . I bought them both.

They are much older than the red one shown above. One is in a rubber case. I sort of expect that they'll both work, only because that old WE equipmant rarely DOESN'T work!

Mark Stevens

Quote from: Doug Houston on September 28, 2008, 11:46:11 PM
I just learned something here. It appears that a "Butt Set" is the lineman's handset. I'd always had a desire for one, and last year, in a local flea market, there were two of them,in different spaces, on the same day, and both priced at $10.00 . I bought them both.

They are much older than the red one shown above. One is in a rubber case. I sort of expect that they'll both work, only because that old WE equipment rarely DOESN'T work!

How about some photos, Doug? We all want to see your butt sets!  :o

benhutcherson

Doug,
Yes, "Butt" set is sort of a slang term for a Lineman's handset. I've heard differing stories on just why they're called that. One source indicated that they were named after the guy who invented them, another that they allowed the lineman to "butt in" to a conversation, and a third that indicated that it was named as such because linemen wore it over their butt.

Anyway, the one I have is relatively recent. I believe that it's from about '82 or so. These later model subsets are internally very similar to a Trimline telephone. As you can see, they share the same dial mechanism(with the floating fingerstop) with Trimlines. I've seen this particular model subset for sale in blue, and even occasionally in green.

I'm guessing, Doug, that yours probably have a small dial on them, which can be dialed by inserting a straight pin or a pencil. I've also seen several in black rubber that didn't have any dial at all.

And, as I said above, I believe that a butt set can be one of the most useful items in any telephone collectors collection. They're just the thing for helping to troubleshoot when the telephone service goes out at your house, or when you have a bad jack. They're also useful when hooking up an old telephone to see if the line cord is live.

Bill

#14
Many thanks for the kind responses about the 500 sets. McHeath, you're right about people collecting things from their grandparents' day. That's probably why I don't appreciate 500 sets - being old, I grew up with them, so what's the big deal?

Many years ago, I acquired the butt set in this pic. This is an early Type 1011 Test Set Phone, the one in the rubber case with pins on the dial, not the later BECO one with the larger 500-style dial. It was grubby then, still is, but like all WE equipment, you can't kill it, and I've used it a lot.

Bill

[Oops! "The upload folder is full."  The photo is 800 x 600, 82K, so it ought to go ... Wassup, Mark? I'll try again later.]