Good to know these things. I personally stopped looking at eBay because the shipping costs are beyond ridiculous now. I don't know if this reflects a general increase in postal/shipping rates globally - or it's a result of eBay's intervention. Regardless, when it costs $60 CAD to 'ship' an oversized envelope containing a $10 item, I'm done with eBay.

With many hundreds of manufacturers/makes having existed over the past century, it's highly unlikely that any list would encompass every single person's preference. I just chose what I felt was best of the available options. People can always add a post here if their favorite isn't included, and maybe some day a new poll including those can be created.

I'd suggest that you forget about sourcing keytops, and just find/buy a complete typewriter. Without being able to perform an inspection of the typewriter yourself, do you know that it's only the two keytops that are missing and nothing else? For example, there's someone in my area who is selling a Rheinmetall that is not only missing a keytop, but also the entire typebar - and is asking an obscene amount of money for what is essentially an unusable typewriter. I would fabricate a keytop, but a typebar with its specific metal characteristics is a far more difficult project. 

OlivWriter wrote:

And also, why is the underside of the lid fluffy, soft ? 

I imagine it's to protect the top of the machine when the lid is closed, and to provide some sound deadening when it's open and being used as a base. A design like this would not be very forgiving of those who did not keep their typewriters clean - as in using type-out liquids or erasers with the carriage being moved to the side.

Well that's interesting. The speaker is not period correct for the phone and the typewriter then?