Last week I was removing some ear-pieces from a few old case Ericofon ‘necks’. Those necks were part of a large batch of parts that I got some time ago. And I desperately needed the speakers for other Ericofons (some New Old Shells or NOS) to be completed. When I was opening up one after another a surprising result was revealed to the world ;-). Never before I had a good look at the inside of the old case ear-piece. And this is what I saw.
The only information about the necks is actually this. There was no body of the shell attached, only the top part was there. So I do not know anything on the origin of the shell. These numbers seems to be some kind of color code, or…?
The known color codes, at least to me, are the ones from the models produced by North Electric in the US market. Here they are listed in ascending order:
| Code | Color | Code | Color | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 520536 | Taj Mahal | 520545 | Chartreuse | |
| 520537 | Sandalwood | 520546 | Aqua Mist | |
| 520538 | Sahara | 520547 | Accent Green | |
| 520539 | Royal Dubonnet | 520548 | Charcoal | |
| 520540 | Riviera | 520549 | Wedgewood | |
| 520541 | Princess/Petal Pink | 520550 | Mandarin Red | |
| 520542 | Nordic Blue | 520551 | Persian Gray | |
| 520543 | Golden Glow | 520552 | Crystal Mint | |
| 520544 | Dusty Rose | 520553 | Candle Glow |
Plotting the numbers from the picture in the same table gives a very surprising result…
| Code US | Code | Color | Code US | Code | Color | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 520536 | 510852 | Taj Mahal | 520545 | Chartreuse | ||
| 520537 | 510853 | Sandalwood | 520546 | Aqua Mist | ||
| 520538 | Sahara | 520547 | Accent Green | |||
| 520539 | Royal Dubonnet | 520548 | Charcoal | |||
| 520540 | Riviera | 520549 | Wedgewood | |||
| 520541 | Princess/Petal Pink | 520550 | 510866 | Mandarin Red | ||
| 520542 | Nordic Blue | 520551 | Persian Gray | |||
| 520543 | Golden Glow | 520552 | 510868 | Crystal Mint | ||
| 520544 | Dusty Rose | 520553 | 510869 | Candle Glow |
The pattern matches with the colorsequence. If the other colors exist the numbering should be logical. Where the numbering comes from I still have to sort out. Is it Swedish numbering? But then the NE specific colors should also be applicable in Sweden? Or is it just the shell number? The 5205xx code seems to be a combination of manufacturer, ringer and color. So more a configuration code. No idea on this (yet). Need to dig somewhat deeper into this.
I appologize the way I removed the ear-pieces, it was not subtle… I admit. But opening up one after another made me more curious on the next number.
Disclaimer: for this experiment no Ericofon was harmed.