It’s a Dutch thing, this model. Only made in the Netherlands. It is a normal desk telephone for a single line, with dial and internal ringer. It is very similar to the Ericsson type 1931 (DBH1001), only a bit higher. And it does exactly the same.
Obviously it dates from the 1930s and nowadays it is somewhat rare, even in the Netherlands. I had been looking of one for a few years, but those that were offered for sale on line were too expensive for me.
And then in a matter of weeks I acquired two, both damaged. Bits of the bakelite had broken off. I had put them aside for further study and thinking about them it struck me as very strange that they were made at all. Why design a new telephone, the same but slightly taller than your old design, when it does exactly the same?
So I opened it up and, against my expectations, found innards very different from the model 1931. I found bulkier components, a less well thought out lay out, basically a throwback. This thing really had me puzzled.
Then it struck me that these insides were familiar. I had seen them before! And yes of course, it was the same as the innards of the Ericsson DE500.
Apparently they reused these, gave them an new body shell and handset so creating the model 1935. It’s main raison d’être being to reuse parts of other phones and save money.
I thought for a long time that these were only used by the Rotterdam telephone company (plaatselijke telefoondienst Rotterdam), as all of the ones I ever saw were marked as such and had that typical Rotterdam bracket at the rear for an extra receiver. Until I found a specimen that did not have that Rotterdam logo and bracket.
That does not mean it was not used in Rotterdam, though. It is not marked PTT. Nor does it have any other marking identifying its original owner.
And for a happy ending: I stumbled across an on line listing offering 2 empty body shells in good condition for not too much money. That was a perfect opportunity to make my 2 examples whole again.
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