Lot of 4 phones fram ebay.

[dsk]

$34.99 for 4 telephones 
Postage 76 I believe I'm paying for the economical crises alone
I can only blame Eric, he gave me my first American telephone as a Christmas gift
and I just want more.  The price may have something to do with the shape.
The AE80E had a very slow dial, and had to be adjusted, the finger stop was missing, and the numbers was an a bad card, so made a new one, added a new sticker, and just made a finger stop. Some cleaning, and here I have a working telephone. My first with a tuned ringer. 20Hz.  Lucky me, the Panasonic delivers... yes 20Hz. The phone company delivers 25Hz. 
The 500 (1961) just needed a new dialcard and a good cleaning.

The 554 is missing the handset, and someone has cut out a square for a modular jack. I do not have the right handset, but about anything will do until I  one.

dsk

[dsk]

The 554 is from 59.

The 4th telephone has limited value, and is a replica of telephone I have made in Belgium from some Standard Electric company.

The pictures are just to show the differences.

The copy is slightly higher, and the handset is split in an upper and under part. The caps looks real, but are a part of the under half.  It contains a mechanical ringer, a single gong I'll guess.

dsk

[GG]

Good haul there.  Yeah, shipping has gone up like crazy.   The underlying cause is "peak oil."  World oil extraction has started to flatten out and soon will begin to decline.  The price of oil and gasoline are only going up from here, and in another decade or so it will probably be way too expensive to ship phones overseas to make it worthwhile for most of us.  So if you want to get a bunch of American phones, there's no time like right now, before shipping makes them completely unaffordable. 

That replica is a pretty good match for the original.  I have the Italian version of your Belgian phone, made by FACE Standard, Milano.  Found at a junk shop > 20 years ago, cheep, and in grungy condition.  Anyway, the replicas were produced for Pottery Barn, a slightly upscale furniture store in the US.  They were available in a bunch of colors; black looks very close to original.  I'll confess to having a light green one.  Still available in black and chrome if I'm not mistaken.  I'd say it's worth keeping for contrast with your Belgian one. 

[Eman]

nice phones, i had been looking at the same lot, but didnt bid in the end

[dsk]

....
That replica is a pretty good match for the original.  I have the Italian version of your Belgian phone, made by FACE Standard, Milano.  Found at a junk shop > 20 years ago, cheep, and in grungy condition.  Anyway, the replicas were produced for Pottery Barn, a slightly upscale furniture store in the US.  They were available in a bunch of colors; black looks very close to original.  I'll confess to having a light green one.  Still available in black and chrome if I'm not mistaken.  I'd say it's worth keeping for contrast with your Belgian one.  

The Replica seems to be of surprisingly high quality.  
The pics tells a lot, even when the flash did make some unwanted reflections.

To get it heavy enough it is put in 3 molded weights. fixed by screws and melting glue.  Total weight: about 1.5 kg  (3.3 lb)
The line-jack is fixed with glue too. The plastic case is quite solid, painted with some metal finish. The feet's are covering the screws.
The ringer are mechanical single gong.

And both the handset wires, and the line wires are filtered through  some turns around a ferrite ring.

It is even soldered in a fuse into the system.  I'm not sure what protection this will give  

This is not a lo cost telephone but at least the same or better quality as regular telephones from the 80-ies and 90-ies.  

dsk