Got these two at a garage sale yesterday:

Nothing too special, but they should clean up nicely. One question though, the cover does not seem to latch at the bottom on the 554. There is a brass piece on the inside of the cover at the top but not on the bottom. Is this piece made of unobtanium?

If it's a Western Electric 554 the only place I know of is the latch in on the bottom. Sometimes the hooks would get bent (on purpose) that made them harder to open.

I will take a picture of the inside tonight.

Is this what your referring to?

https://www.porticus.org/bell/telephones-554.html

Yes.

I am hoping Sam and Arthur will chime in.
Here's a picture of the inside of the cover:

You're missing the bottom piece with the 2 hooks. And the screw that holds it in place. (Truth be known, probably the threads in the plastic are stripped or the hole itself is split.)

Yeah, I called Phoneco and Mary said she has what I need.

jeff, if phoneco doesnt have them i can point you in the right direction, another place i shop (for taxi phones) they have NOS of those clips

I have them in abundance on a pile of old phones. Free.

Arthur, I will give you a call tonight!

Hi Jeff,

One other thing that I forgot to mention in my PM to you about the handset and line cords.

The best way that I have found to clean the dark stains that remain after the dishwasher treatment is to soak them in 70% isopropanol (rubbing alchol)and clean with a terry cloth rag. Dont let them sit too long in the alcohol, or at least keep the ends out of the stuff. It takes a bit of time and effort to get the grundge off of them, but it is much better than ammonia based stuff like windex, which makes the grundge sticky, and won't remove it like alcohol will.

Best,

Joe