One In, One Out: Alpina SK 24

 

Long coveted, never owned (till now) - Alpina SK 24

 

In a collection of script, epoca, techno and all types of fancy typefaces, it is occasionally good to discover that I have a solid pica amongst the lot!

I haven't seen one of these for the Swiss market - and this one, too, has a German keyboard layout.

It's in fairly good shape and the feet are all intact, which is nice.

What I've always liked about these are the two-tone color scheme and the large, imposing return lever. 

 

It is not that much smaller than the Olivetti Graphika it replaced, but is at least portable? I keep it in its case so it will at least attract less dust than the Graphika did on my shelf.

Lockdown Typewriter - Script Hermes Baby

I actually found this on 17th March 2021, so during the second wave of lockdown. But, still.

 

 

 How well it fits in with my other plastic Hermes Babies! I have a matching set now :)

 

 

  From the logo I think this might be the oldest of the three.

 

It was in excellent condition, and there's lots of life left in the ribbon it came with. 

The wonderful sight of non-pica type slugs - what a find!

 

Here's the case - fully intact as well. 

The Great Return & Epoca Hermes 3000

The Epoca 3000 that made its way to Austria last year

 

 

Up close and personal with gorgeous Epoca type slugs

A type sample that I sent to the excited collector (and rightly so!)

A rather handsome profile

And finally, here's mine - a wonderful find many years ago, and so magical to repeat the discovery last year!

RTTA: Oz Typewriter edition

Robert's blog - indisputably the most frequently updated and richest in content in all the typosphere - may be found here: Oz Typewriter. Thanks for taking part, Robert!

RTTA: I dream lo-tech edition

You all know who Ton is, I'm pretty sure, but if not this is the time to head over to I dream lo-tech and discover all his fantastic typecasts and superb photography, with lots of the items he discusses in this post displayed - particularly Mid-Century Modern furniture and objects. His new Triumph Perfekt - and cursive at that - is a beauty!

Retro Tech Thrift Adventures (RTTA) Q&A Series

A thrift store find from this summer...

Yes, it was a fabulous Brosette... I had one before that I didn't end up keeping either, although I blogged about it here.

While the first Brosette had a serial number in the 38,000s, this one was manufactured a bit later.

I didn't recognize which typewriter it was at first, seeing this case in the thrift store. My first Brosette had had a vinyl case that was terribly battered by the time it reached me, but this was just fantastic.

Gorgeous, isn't it? I don't mind not having kept it, though, we will (knock on wood) be moving in less than two weeks and I am already dreading the typewriter procession up and down stairs. So, one less to worry about is just fine by me.

I was pleasantly surprised not only by how rare of a find it was, but also by the excellent condition the machine was in. So photogenic, too!

Decals intact, too.

A Phenomenal Find: Olivetti Studio 42

While I am - of course - thrilled to have found this beauty (even more so because of its QWERTY keyboard, as this is a British Olivetti from Glasgow, "Made in Italy and Assembled in Great Britain"), there are a few shortcomings I discovered once I had brought it home and the flush of excitement had worn off. The most serious is that this has suffered a considerable impact at some point in its lifetime: from this angle it may look ok, but see this:

Whoa. The funny thing is that this does not affect the typing action in any way, except for an annoying click when the space bar hits the frame as you type. If you can ignore that - which I will learn to, I guess - this typewriter is perfectly functional for producing a page or two of text.

When I found it, it was propped up in such a way as to mask the damaged case, shown above. Fortunately, some glue and a couple of screws have made it whole again, although I would not trust it to fully support the weight of the typewriter. I'm surprised how flimsy it feels, though.

Here it is, as found - just ignore my giant shadow. Not easy to detect the broken case, as you can see, and I was more concerned with making sure it typed properly than checking for a bent frame. Quite impressive that despite the damage sustained, it still works so well.

I haven't cleaned it properly yet - still a bit of dust and eraser shavings to get rid of - but it was in a decent enough state to be photographed.

I think my favorite part is how the typebar cover swings out on a hinge. Beautifully designed.

It's not often that I just happen to stumble across a typewriter I have been coveting, which is why I'm naming this my find of the year (at least so far). I suppose last year's equivalent would be my script Hermes Baby, as script typewriters are notoriously difficult to find in the wild in Switzerland.

After discovering the bent frame, I thought seriously about whether I wanted to keep this or not, but I have decided that I will. It's taken me a couple of years since I first coveted one to come across this, and it has a desirable QWERTY keyboard and a crisp elite typeface (just need to clean the type slugs, though). So until I come across a better one, this will do nicely to fill up the Olivetti Studio gap in the collection (we parted with the 44, and I wouldn't want a 45 or 46). Besides, if I am bothered by how it looks in the front, I can just turn it around and admire it for a while - the back view is just about perfect :).