The robust O.B. 5 desk telephone represents the telephone technology of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a time of rapid modernization in wired communication. Manufactured by Neufeldt & Kuhnke in Kiel, it served in administrative or military institutions and their premises. The missing dial suggests that calls were manually directed through a switchboard. The metal body, nickel-plated details, and the state emblem with an eagle indicate its official use. The apparatus thus witnessed the centralized communication of Imperial Germany.