My efforts to sell much of my collection have been successful. The major step was holding a swap meet at WordPlay Cincy on May 2. It took some planning ... but it's fun for me to do things like design event tickets.
The day before the meet, Dave Brechbiel very generously helped me transport a ton of typewriters to WordPlay from my home and office.
On May 2, weather was pleasant and there was a good turnout—I'd guess about 50 people came by, including longtime collectors and new users. Visitors came from as far as Boston and D.C. Some people had appropriate clothing!
Whether we bought or not, we got to admire and test a wide variety of machines, including classic midcentury portables.
The WordPlay mural formed a perfect backdrop for the swap meet. (Here you can read about the mural and the writers it depicts.)
Yvette brought a full-keyboard Smith Premier no. 10, a red italic Spanish Remington no. 3, and a Royal Quiet Deluze with double gothic type (sans-serif capitals).
Max looks cool next to a selection of machines from my collection and the Brother he brought.
Yes, it is a bit sad to bid goodbye to beautiful speciments like this Hispano-Olivetti M40. But I mostly feel relieved; I have literally had recurring nightmares about managing all these heavy antique machines.
As I expected, not everything sold. The bigger machines especially had some trouble finding new homes. Fortunately, I just had to get them to the basement of WordPlay, with a little help from my friends ....
Here the unsold machines can wait. And I may well decide to keep some of them! (If you spot something you really want, let me know.)
A couple of typewriters ended up donated to WordPlay, including an L.C. Smith with this fabulous decal.
Many people asked: Is this an annual thing?
Answer: Maybe so!
You can find more pictures here.
