Mix and Genest Tischfernsprecher M55 mit Taste

[tubaman]

Fresh from this morning's post and in its uncleaned state is this catchily named Mix and Genest Tischfernsprecher M55 mit Taste. Which literally translated I think means 'Table remote speaker M55 with button'. How I love the way that when the Germans need a new word they just string together a number of others that perfectly describe the item - it's just so logical!

So, I put in what I thought was a low offer of €14 for this and to my surprise the buyer accepted.
P&P added €14.95 so total €28.95 - approx $32 US.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm//312769848570
All of the parts apart from the handset inserts (and I expect the cord) appear to date to 1957. Handset inserts are early '70s.
The styling very much reminds me of a WE500, or perhaps even more a 5302.
Some of the features are rather interesting:
The design of the handset shell (which has what looks like a 1957 moulding mark) is I think very progressive for that time. I've seen this split shell design in much later phones, but never anything this old.
The nuts that look to be spot welded to the bell gongs are also very strange. It means that even with the volume slider in the loud position it's still pretty quiet. I've no idea if they are original or a later modification. Usually when people want to silence the bells you find something stuffed around the clapper, so this seems a very difficult way to achieve the same goal.

[tubaman]

More photos:

[oldguy]

Great find tubaman, it looks new!

[tubaman]

Great find tubaman, it looks new!

I think the photos are flattering it somewhat!
It is is decent shape but does have some rust on metal parts so I expect its been in a shed or attic somewhere.
Should clean-up ok though.

[countryman]

That's a nice find indeed and a nice eBay experience, too! Probably the seller wanted it to go to a collector.
Looks like a metal construction shop used it in it's office :-) Do the bells sound correct, just quieter, or dull like when they are stuffed with paper or cloth?
It's are rare phone, as it was only produced 1956-58. Mix&Genest was more or less the german ITT branch and went up in SEL (Standard Elektrik Lorenz) in '58. The M55 was sold only for private branch exchanges, not for standard subscriber lines. It really follows the WE design of the time, but also can be seen as an interpretation of pre-war ideas, like the Fuld Frankfurt "Bauhaus" phone.
The (in)famous German string words... yes they exist, but "Tischfernsprecher" would be more an official name. In spoken language it is simply "ein Telefon" :-) Today, the creation of new string words is chiefly reserved to bureaucrats. We gladly adopt English words for new things. Since mobile phones became popular in Germany, they are called "Das Handy" (in English pronunciation). This might originate in CB and amateur radio operators calling handheld transceivers "Handie-Talkies" after the Motorola SCR-536, but the name seemed so natural and caught on immediately that we Germans never understand why native English speakers don't understand :-) Well, now it's a smart phone (German: Ein Smartphone... a denglish string word!)

Edit to add a link with diagram:
https://www.alte-messgeraete.de/telefontechnik/fa-mix-genest-berlin/tischapp-modell-55-schwarz/

[tubaman]

@countryman,
Yes, you could be right about the metalwork shop - it's just the sort of thing one would do. The bells sound ok but its taken any persistence from the sound - a bit like a cracked wine glass perhaps?
I didn't realise that these were produced for such a short time, and that certainly explains why they don't appear very often.
Thanks for the information on string words - very interesting.