Thursday, April 11, 2013

A Cornucopia of Typewriter Sightings (Spring 2013) Pt. 2

These cows - our neighbors in the village near Interlaken where we stayed - were very intrigued to see us emerge from our room and stared long and hard until after we had passed. I wasn't sure whether to feel flattened or threatened...  But I am sure you are just as - if not more - eager to see what the rest of the typewriter sightings were, so here we go!

Light blue Facit TP-1. This was hanging out on a little shelf not far from all the others in my previous post, and I could see someone had tried unsuccessfully to release the carriage (there is a hole in the paper from repeated attempts to type). I've never used a Facit, but I located the carriage release mechanism after a few seconds and freed it, thus - hopefully - making it easier to sell.

Another store produced only one typewriter, but it was this splendid Consul. Another machine being sighted in person for the first time!

I was pleasantly surprised by just how flat it was, but also by the full-metal construction of the body - I had not expected that! The feel of typing with this reminded me of the Antares Annabella, but not quite as good...

The letters printed poorly, although to be fair this may just have been a sub-par specimen. I think others have had good luck with Consuls. I am secretly glad it wasn't good enough to contemplate purchasing, though, as it would have made for a rather hefty souvenir!

In a department store in Bern, we spotted this tray of carelessly tossed together Lamy Safaris, and bemoaned the nonchalance of the sales staff. (They also seem to be pretty trusting, leaving these out in the open as if they were Bic pens.) Who would want to pay full retail price for a scratched-up fountain pen?

Olympia Traveller C series - reminds me of the one Richard just bought. I find the futuristic curvy case the most redeeming factor of this machine, although it also reminds me of Barbie typewriters.

Once open, it is a little less impressive but still very interesting - just check out that unusual ribbon cover! This model looks barely used, too, but seeing how poorly Richard's example typed, I didn't bother testing it out.

Surprise - an Olympia SM-9 with Senatorial typeface! Two years ago I would have tucked this triumphantly under my arm, as I spent a good long time looking for an SM-9 with no results. However, I have moved past wanting one and the action on this one was a little sticky. Probably nothing that couldn't be resolved with a bit of cleaning, but I wasn't taking my chances.

Techno has been popping up everywhere lately - it was also on this Olivetti Studio 45 in turquoise.

(Intermission: sewing machine sighting - Singer 416.)

I can't be absolutely certain, but I'm fairly sure I haven't seen one of these Everest Mod 90s in real life - oh wait, maybe I did see a couple in that Milan typewriter museum I visited a couple of days ago.

From the side - handsome, a good find, but a tad overpriced at CHF 80, if I remember correctly. Now, this must have come from the home of a discerning collector, because look what I found next to it:

Realized what it is yet? Want a better look? How about this picture from the side:

Lovely, isn't it? And it typed like a dream too - you could tell it had been well maintained and was beautifully lubricated. I think the shop clerks googled it, too, because they were asking CHF 200.


I'm not sure what market is out here for collectable typewriters like this one, and I am curious to see how quickly - or not - this Pittsburgh Visible Model 10 sells in the coming months. What is clear, though, is that it is a fantastic sighting that really brings home how awesome little old Geneva is when it comes to unusual typewriter finds.  Now if only that Sphinx would turn up... :)

Sunday, April 7, 2013

A Cornucopia of Typewriter Sightings (Spring 2013) - Pt. 1

Spring is slow in coming this year, as I regrettably found out when I spent Easter break in Interlaken only to have decidedly unspringlike weather most of the time: rain, mist, sleet, and snow. I had planned to go up the mountains to sightsee (nothing too strenuous; lots of cable cars had been envisaged) - but with the awful visibility I realized my short weekend was better spent in other pursuits. Of course, the morning I was leaving, the clouds cleared somewhat and we got a glimpse of the mountains for the first time. Sigh.

Instead of going up any of the mountains pictured in this helpful diagram, we thought it best to spend Easter Saturday - the one working day of the break - shopping in Bern and seeing whether any thrift stores were open. It turned out to be an epic day... and I have so many typewriter sightings to share!

As I organized my pictures, I realized I had a few minor sightings from Geneva that had not yet shown up on the blog, so in the interests of thoroughness, I shall add them on here now. This will make for an extra long post with lots of images, so make sure you're comfortable and hydrated!

The Brother 220 above (techno, I believe) showed up at our flea market a couple of weeks ago.

That same day we came across this hulking Triumph Special - nothing special, don't be fooled. All that plastic... ugh, '70s typewriters.

Normally this plastic Erika would provoke the same flippant response I had to the Triumph - but in Arabic? Not something one sees everyday. Lovely. Another look:


Ok, on to the Bern sightings now. We stumbled upon a thrift store in Interlaken, and of course we had to browse and see if there were any typewriters! We weren't disappointed:

Rather ordinary - a Hermes Media, a tad overpriced at CHF 45.

Pleasant surprise - Olympia SM-7 with senatorial (techno) typeface: first time I've seen one of these in the wild.

Sad tale: Olympia Progress that would not keep its carriage in the center for love or money. It kept swinging back wildly to the other side each time I pulled it into position. No time to diagnose the problem, so I moved on - nice sighting, though, first time seeing one of these also.

Exceedingly ordinary: Hermes 3000 from the late '70s with techno typeface. Came with a warranty, though - a pretty good deal for CHF25.

Beautifully photogenic: this Remington Standard 12, going for CHF 65. Here's what it looked like from the front -


And now, the one that got away:

A mint-green Lettera 22 with print style typeface! For only CHF 15, this was such a good deal, and I was sad to leave it behind. I almost went back for it on Easter Monday as I was leaving, but the store was closed. Whew.

I didn't fail to take type samples, though.

In Bern proper, we found that one of our usual thrift store haunts had come up with a nifty dedicated typewriter display. Wow! A welcome development - I hope this is in response to increased demand. I took solo shots of some of these:

Brother Deluxe 1600 -in very good condition, if not especially remarkable.

Olympia Traveller de Luxe - I had a look under the hood to see if it was perhaps script, but no luck. I used to have one of these and certainly don't miss it!

Triumph Gabriele 10 - I've seen a few of these over the years, but this one is styled a bit differently than others I've come across.

A late '70s Adler - note how the keys are the same size and shape of the Triumph above; they definitely share a family resemblance.

Shiny! And really just stunning, down to the keys and decals. An Imperial "Quiet" 55.

A hulking Royal... KMG, is it?

And, on the last shelf, a Smith Premier standard.

 A Hermes Ambassador - not much to say, fairly predictable.

But perhaps not as predictable as this late '70s Hermes 3000; this was the second sighting on that day.

Another plastic Triumph - some office must have been cleaning out closets that had last been opened in the '80s...

For a change of pace, a Lagomarsino-Totalia adding machine.


--- Whew, so many more pictures to go! Just as many as I have already posted. Well, there will need to be a part 2 because this post is already pretty picture-heavy. Watch out for the rest later this week: the best is yet to come!
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