Monday, October 22, 2012

Fall surprise: Meteor typewriter from Spain



















In case you can't tell, the black Patria has a return lever with an upturned end, and tombstone-shaped keys.

And in case you're wondering, yes, this Meteor came from that modern cornucopia, eBay.

Ken reviews his French-built Patria

Georg's rundown of the Patria family

19 comments:

  1. What a gorgeous machine, it might just be that I'm still new to all this but I'm really loving the color and design.

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  2. Interesting, and beautiful! Your Meteor has the same return lever and keytops as my Commodore, also made in Spain, whose serial number is 11492 and which also has a C85 stamped in the machine. (That's a common number with this series- the later Florida was model A85.) I had not seen Georg's family discussion on the Patrias before -- it looks like he has been very busy on that while I was away from typewriters.

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    1. I was indeed - I hope that google translate by now gives acceptable results (I noticed then when going into details, it can create confusion, as I have tendency to construct these long and complicated German sentences).

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  3. Wow! Great find! Not sure how I missed that on eBay. Ha!

    The color is gorgeous, and I am sure it is an amazing typewriter. Congratulations!

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  4. Oh, I like! I really, really like!

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  5. Great find. Congratulations! The typewriter is really a nice looking machine and the color is wonderful.

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  6. very nice! Wonderful color! Meteor is a cool name but not particularly appropriate to typewriters, I think.

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  7. That Meteor is stunning! And very nice color. Congratulations for yet another astonishing find.

    Is the typing action identical to the Patria? How would you describe it?

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    1. It feels just like other Patrias to me -- a very solidly built little typewriter, reliable and well made. For maximum snap and speed I would still choose an Olympia SF.

      On this Meteor I sometimes fail to space because I don't depress the spacebar enough, and there seems to be no way to adjust the sensitivity. But you could get used to that.

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  8. Welcome to the family, Meteor! This is a super find, and very nicely put into picture around the autumn leaves.

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  9. I was ready to swoop in at the end of the auction. Now I'm glad I didn't. It's swell to see this fall beauty featured here. Rob

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  10. beautiful machine. from Spain to my backyard to yours - glad you picked it up! (:

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  11. If I remember my Phoenix-area typewriter sales and repair shop history, Scottsdale Typewriter was the Hermes distributor for the valley. What a cool thing to find. Straight from the heavens to your fingertips!

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  12. That reminds me, I'm "watching" a Byron currently on eBay UK.

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  13. That red complements very well with the autumnal leaves, indeed! I have to add, the spanish Patria in glossy black looks very nice as well.

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  14. I was watching this auction. $170!! I was turned off with (what I felt was) a high starting bid but watched it in case I suddenly felt it had to be mine. In the end, I figured I have enough machines for now and this one I'd let go for now.
    I had no idea it'd go for $170 tho!
    Great looking machine!

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  15. That's gorgeous, Richard. Thanks for sharing that. One of these days I'm going to drag home a Patria machine...as soon as I make a bit of room.

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  16. Great blog and article. I will be picking up one of these in the next day or two from a local seller, and it has the original instruction manual. It is indeed a Patria. If you like I can provide scans.

    Thanks

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  17. Thank you -- sure, I'd be pleased to get scans, and a photo of your machine too if you don't mind. The Patria is not rare in Spain, but exports and this name variant certainly are. Congratulations on yours.

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