I thought Univers at first (the ampersand matched), but not the question mark:

http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/linotype/univers/

I'll keep looking....

Concur with Kevin on Univers for 1st sample only. 2nd one is another font and which, at first inspection, is very close to Akzidenz-Grotesk (main difference being "Helvetica-ish" /R). May be AG Book?

adding another image to the second - that Q?

Basic Commercial Roman (I had rejected it earlier because the ? didn't match, but it does in the Roman version)?

http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/linotype/basic-commercial-lt/basic-commerci...

the R does not match...

neither the K actually

You are quite right, my bad. And the Q was such a good match, too. That's the problem with identifying this--easy to find parts that match something, but not the whole....

I guess it's Basic Commercial Univers?

... sorry, Basic Commercial Helvetica Grotesk...

aq54, if the font is by a smaller type foundry (i.e., not one catalogued by Whatfontis or Myfonts), the chances of accurately identifying it are slim.

Sorry if you're frustrated, but we volunteer our time here and don't guarantee results.

If you can provide more details about the sample (country of origin, date), that may help us zero in on the foundry.