My latest finds

[bushman]

I picked these up mostly at an auto swapmeet. The soft plastic 500 came from Goodwill.

[bushman]

Here is the 500

Bushman

[Dennis Markham]

That Light Beige 500 is in nice condition.  That housing just MAY be soft plastic.  June of '59 was about when they made the switch on colored sets.  Very nice.

[bushman]

There is no doubt that it is soft plastic. Dull thud when tapped on. Nice cheesy smell and no center holes.

Bushman

[gpo706]

Nice finds, but begorrah that butt set would give you one arm like Popeye's!

[Sargeguy]

What dial does that buttset have? and is it seated in a candlestick cup?

[bingster]

It's a #6 dial.  You can always tell the 6 from the side because of the wide edge with a casting seam in the middle.  The cup is most likely the flat-back cup like the one used on the C-mount hanging handset (I can't remember the part number off the top of my head).  They have three screw holes in the back, allowing the cup to be attached to something behind it.

[bushman]

Since I don't have any candlesticks yet, here is some more pics of it. The dial is marked 6A 3 5-65. I couldn't get it in a pic.

Bushman

[Jim Stettler]

What dial does that buttset have? and is it seated in a candlestick cup?

The dial and cup was a standard variation  from the pin dial.
Jim

[Jim Stettler]

The Federal desk magneto set also came with a textured paint finish. It should have a marked federal handset. I have owned a couple of them.

They have the distintion of being my least favorite design of any telephone, that I have ever owned or seen.
Jim.

[Wallphone]

I agree with Bingster, it looks like the same cup as used on the WE C1. The part # is 32A and can be found in C34.301. The 6A dial is a 10 PPS dial. I don't know if they ever used 20 PPS dials in the butt-set.  I also agree with Jim, the Federal magneto phone is so homely you have to feel sorry for it. This phone is a convertible meaning you can re-mount the cradle thus turning it into a wall phone.

[Jim Stettler]

I also agree with Jim, the Federal magneto phone is so homely you have to feel sorry for it. This phone is a convertible meaning you can re-mount the cradle thus turning it into a wall phone.

Even being a convertable doesn't help it desirability.
Jim

[deedubya3800]

With the handset off, it looks like a black riverboat. 

[Wallphone]

Riverboat, barge, or old adding machine where you had to pull the handle to calculate.

[Jim Stettler]

Don't get me wrong. The federal isn't a bad set to have. Those Federal sets seldom show up. So they are HTF. I doubt if very many of them were saved because how they look.

My sister gave me my first one and I bought the 2nd for $3.00. I think I sold them for $20.00 each. This was probably 10-15 years ago.

Jim