Why are Western Electric phones so expensive on ebay and elsewhere, at
least $35 up to 50. I thought there were 50 to 100 million of the
standard black phones made, just counting the last design of the
handset, which is almost a rectangle in cross section. Where did they
all go?

On 10/20/2023 7:47 AM, micky wrote:
> Why are Western Electric phones so expensive on ebay and elsewhere, at
> least $35 up to 50. I thought there were 50 to 100 million of the
> standard black phones made, just counting the last design of the
> handset, which is almost a rectangle in cross section. Where did they
> all go?

The dump.

Bob F <bobnospam@gmail.com> writes:
>On 10/20/2023 7:47 AM, micky wrote:
>> Why are Western Electric phones so expensive on ebay and elsewhere, at
>> least $35 up to 50. I thought there were 50 to 100 million of the
>> standard black phones made, just counting the last design of the
>> handset, which is almost a rectangle in cross section. Where did they
>> all go?
>
>The dump.

There is at least one in pretty much every antique store in the US.

I have three model 500 and one model 300, all working; one in
active use.

Interesting factoid - to determine the manufacturing data of a
WE 500 deskset, unscrew the earpiece - the date will be marked
on the back of the speaker.

In <__xYM.59456$sxoa.3408@fx13.iad> scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) writes:

[snip]

>Interesting factoid - to determine the manufacturing data of a
>WE 500 deskset, unscrew the earpiece - the date will be marked
>on the back of the speaker.

Not entirely... often the earpieces of older sets
would be reused in newer ones.

--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

On 10/20/2023 10:47 AM, micky wrote:
> Why are Western Electric phones so expensive on ebay and elsewhere, at
> least $35 up to 50. I thought there were 50 to 100 million of the
> standard black phones made, just counting the last design of the
> handset, which is almost a rectangle in cross section. Where did they
> all go?

The girls have picked them, every one
Oh, when will you ever learn?

(Sorry, I couldn't resist!)

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 20 Oct 2023 16:35:06 GMT,
scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) wrote:

>Bob F <bobnospam@gmail.com> writes:
>>On 10/20/2023 7:47 AM, micky wrote:
>>> Why are Western Electric phones so expensive on ebay and elsewhere, at
>>> least $35 up to 50. I thought there were 50 to 100 million of the
>>> standard black phones made, just counting the last design of the
>>> handset, which is almost a rectangle in cross section. Where did they
>>> all go?
>>
>>The dump.
>
>
>There is at least one in pretty much every antique store in the US.
>
>I have three model 500 and one model 300, all working; one in
>active use.
>
>Interesting factoid - to determine the manufacturing data of a
>WE 500 deskset, unscrew the earpiece - the date will be marked
>on the back of the speaker.

Sure enough. June 13, 1984. Practically new. (This is the AT&T
handset that looks just like the WE ones.)

Almost ready for installation but I have to find some sort of on/off
switch that I can put at the end of a wire. There's a hamfest this
Sunday. if that doesn't work, I'll hire guides and go the dresser in
the basement.

In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 20 Oct 2023 08:43:57 -0700, Bob F
<bobnospam@gmail.com> wrote:

>On 10/20/2023 7:47 AM, micky wrote:
>> Why are Western Electric phones so expensive on ebay and elsewhere, at
>> least $35 up to 50. I thought there were 50 to 100 million of the
>> standard black phones made, just counting the last design of the
>> handset, which is almost a rectangle in cross section. Where did they
>> all go?
>
>The dump.

That's a real shame. I would have stored them in my spare bedroom, in
case of national emergency

Trader makes some good points in his reply, but I would still be annoyed
that I had to pay so much....However, I went to look in my stash of
phones and phone parts and I had things I'd forgotten about. I can't
find the Western Electric handset I was looking for, G-1, I think it's
called, but I found two AT&T handsets. One of them looks just like the
WEs do. Do you know why it was relabeled AT&T? The other is more
modern and less yellowed, but even if it is whiter at the ear- and
mouth-pieces where they were protected from sunlight by sitting in the
cradle.

If I use my office phone/phone machine, my friend often can't hear me
well on the speakerphone, and I can't hear her well on the handset.
Sometimes I have to keep turning the speakerphone off and on like a mike
on a shortwave radio. So I wanted a handset to plug in beside the
phone.

If you rewire it, so the mike and speaker are in series, and connected
to the red and green from the wall, you don't need the rest of the
phone. You can't dial, so it's only for incoming calls or calls in
progress. Before I switched to this phone and 3 cordless extensions, I
had a corded handset in the bathroom, with a toggle switch to answer it,
a beeper to tell if it was ringing, a switch to turn off the beeper if I
wanted quiet, and a neon light to tell if it was ringing when the beeper
was off. I was looking for that handset, but one of these will do I
guess.

I thought I rewired the handset itself, but the ends of each wire go
into the jack, so I must have done the rearranging in the wall, or in
this case the thing that normally mounts on the baseboard of a house.

When I was in NYC and not working, a friend called me one day, that he
had found on the sidewalk near Wall St. a big beautiful wood desk like
executives have and did I want it. Sure. By the time I got there, about
30 minutes later, someone had taken the drawer handles and the glass top
had gotten broken, but the desk we put in the back seat of my
convertible and I've had it ever since. It has on the side one of those
2" square cream colord terminal blocks for the phone, and a thing also
2" square with a push button to call my secretary. I keep pushing it
and she never comes. I think I need a new one.

There was a store in NYC called Just Knobs, and that's where I got
replacement door pulls. They truly only sold knobs, but they had a
whole store full.

You know, the desk is so big I can barely reach the button. I would
have put it in the "chair well"?, next to my knee, instead. I think I'll
have my secretary call someone to move it.

micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> writes:
>
>In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 20 Oct 2023 08:43:57 -0700, Bob F
><bobnospam@gmail.com> wrote:

>called, but I found two AT&T handsets. One of them looks just like the
>WEs do. Do you know why it was relabeled AT&T?

The bell system was broken up in 1982.

https://www.westernelectric.com/company-history

On 10/20/23 11:43, Retirednoguilt wrote:
> On 10/20/2023 10:47 AM, micky wrote:
>> Why are Western Electric phones so expensive on ebay and elsewhere, at
>> least $35 up to 50. I thought there were 50 to 100 million of the
>> standard black phones made, just counting the last design of the
>> handset, which is almost a rectangle in cross section. Where did they
>> all go?
>
>
> The girls have picked them, every one
> Oh, when will you ever learn?
>
> (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)

My parents used to listen to that song a lot. I thought the last line
was "Oh, when will they ever learn?".

--
66 days until the winter celebration (Monday, December 25, 2023 12:00 AM
for 1 day).

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"The name of Christ has caused more persecutions, wars, and miseries
than any other name has caused." [John E. Remsburg, The Christ(1910)]

In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 21 Oct 2023 11:24:31 -0500, Mark Lloyd
<not.email@all.invalid> wrote:

>On 10/20/23 11:43, Retirednoguilt wrote:
>> On 10/20/2023 10:47 AM, micky wrote:
>>> Why are Western Electric phones so expensive on ebay and elsewhere, at
>>> least $35 up to 50. I thought there were 50 to 100 million of the
>>> standard black phones made, just counting the last design of the
>>> handset, which is almost a rectangle in cross section. Where did they
>>> all go?
>>
>>
>> The girls have picked them, every one
>> Oh, when will you ever learn?
>>
>> (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)
>
>My parents used to listen to that song a lot. I thought the last line
>was "Oh, when will they ever learn?".

Yes, it was, but they're not here and anyhow I think Retired thinks that
I'm the one who sould have learned by now. And he's right.

On 10/21/2023 12:24 PM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
> On 10/20/23 11:43, Retirednoguilt wrote:
>> On 10/20/2023 10:47 AM, micky wrote:
>>> Why are Western Electric phones so expensive on ebay and elsewhere, at
>>> least $35 up to 50. I thought there were 50 to 100 million of the
>>> standard black phones made, just counting the last design of the
>>> handset, which is almost a rectangle in cross section. Where did they
>>> all go?
>>
>>
>> The girls have picked them, every one
>> Oh, when will you ever learn?
>>
>> (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)
>
> My parents used to listen to that song a lot. I thought the last line
> was "Oh, when will they ever learn?".
>

Unless my web source was wrong, "when will you ever learn" is the last
line of the first verse and "when will they ever learn" is the last line
of the last verse. So, I suspect that we're both correct.

On Sun, 22 Oct 2023 10:26:17 -0400, Retirednoguilt wrote:

> Unless my web source was wrong, "when will you ever learn" is the last
> line of the first verse and "when will they ever learn" is the last line
> of the last verse. So, I suspect that we're both correct.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1tqtvxG8O4

From the horse's mouth -- the last verse is 'When will we ever learn?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kveooWmqqr8

Dietrich does the verses that were added later with 'they' in all of them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7ed3U2ETtM

If you're patient, Seeger does it at 43:31, splitting 'you and we one that
last verse. That's followed by the Russian song that inspired the lyrics.
The tune is an Irish melody.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Quest

Rainbow Quest was a very low budget production but got Seeger back on TV
after being blacklisted for years.

A number of people have covered the song so you probably can find any
combination of pronouns. Baez does the longer version with 'they' in every
verse but doesn't repeat the first verse in at least one recording.

On 22 Oct 2023 20:28:48 GMT, lowbrowwoman, the endlessly driveling,
troll-feeding, senile idiot, blabbered again:

> On Sun, 22 Oct 2023 10:26:17 -0400, Retirednoguilt wrote:
>
>> Unless my web source was wrong, "when will you ever learn" is the last
>> line of the first verse and "when will they ever learn" is the last line
>> of the last verse. So, I suspect that we're both correct.
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1tqtvxG8O4
>
> From the horse's mouth -- the last verse is 'When will we ever learn?"
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kveooWmqqr8
>
> Dietrich does the verses that were added later with 'they' in all of them.
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7ed3U2ETtM
>
> If you're patient, Seeger does it at 43:31, splitting 'you and we one that
> last verse. That's followed by the Russian song that inspired the lyrics.
> The tune is an Irish melody.
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Quest
>
> Rainbow Quest was a very low budget production but got Seeger back on TV
> after being blacklisted for years.
>
> A number of people have covered the song so you probably can find any
> combination of pronouns. Baez does the longer version with 'they' in every
> verse but doesn't repeat the first verse in at least one recording.

Feeling better again, you abnormal endlessly gossiping bigmouth? LOL

--
More typical idiotic senile gossip by lowbrowwoman:
"It's been years since I've been in a fast food burger joint but I used
to like Wendy's because they had a salad bar and baked potatoes."
MID: <ivdi4gF8btlU1@mid.individual.net>