Thales CE
An absolutely unremarkable machine, of which 10000's have been made. However, this one is unusualy in the sense that it is unsusually well documented. Also, I very much like the serial number. It was bought by and architect in Wuustwezel, a village in the Campine region, in 1957. To be precise, on Nov. 23rd 1957 - I know this, because he kept the order slip. It is interesting to see that the order was made at his home in Wuustwezel, apparently by a travelling representative of Ebstein Frères, door-to-door salesman-wise. He also kept all the other documentation he got with the machine. It cost 8000 Belgian Francs (with 10% discount, of course), which is the equivalent of around 1250 EUR today.
There is also the prospectus which shows the entire range of Thales machines, including the ill-fated DER/S and CER/S with an accumulator register. The address scribbled on the prospectus is probably a client - it is a bakery that still exists today, and has nothing to do with service for calculators.
Finally, two manuals, a short instruction on the features of the machine, and a larger booklet with example calculations.
The Thales machines were sold in Belgium by Ebstein Frères in Brussels. One can imagine the trip from Wuustwezel to Brussels, perhaps by tram and train, but perhaps in 1957 already by car - a sensible small family car for a young architect, perhaps a Ford Zephyr or something - with half a month's pay cash in a sealed envelope, to pick up this calculator, ordered perhaps two weeks or a month earlier. Or perhaps our intrepid travelling salesman simply brought it over!
It doesn't seem to have been used too aggressively over the years either - most calculations were done by slide rule, so perhaps this was bought for bookkeeping and cost calculation only ? Even then, it seems like an expensive gadget for just that.
Finally, some pictures -
