Springtime typewriter safari

I just reduced my typewriters by about 2/3: in approximate numbers, I sold 100 machines and gave away 100 parts machines, leaving 100 in my collection. But of course that doesn't mean I'm not interested in typewriters anymore! It's still fun to go on safari and see what there is to be found in the "wild" of the local antique mall. This morning was a great time to do that, right after getting cortisone shots under my patellas (I barely felt it, the doctor knows his stuff).

Well, here's an Underwood no. 6, I believe, with 11-inch platen, that has been through some dramatic price reductions: from $380 to $249 to $199. With the stern warning "please do not type or play," I think it's going to linger longer.

Another reduction: this Sears Scholar went from $95 to $79. It remains a model that will excite very few.

Another Underwood, this one a beefy Master, proposes a price of $97. The rust is free.

A portable Underwood, for a change. ... What's this? A fresh concept in typewriter sales! You can buy the machine for $59.99, and underneath it there happens to be an "Empty typewriter box" that you can get for a mere $22.50! Gee, I wonder what used to be in that case....

Here's a reasonable price, for once: $49 for a Royal FP. With some cleaning and care, this could be a workhorse once again.

Another Underwood no. 6, this one with a 10-inch platen, is offered for $65.

And yes, it's yet another Underwood. Maybe a model S or SS, for $90.

Here's what has been typed on the page. 

Isn't it amazing that "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country" (or "party") is still a familiar sample sentence for many of us? According to Charles Weller's The Early History of the Typewriter (1921), he and others who were early testers of prototypes of the Sholes & Glidden in the late 1860s used this sentence to test the Type Writer! Whether or not this is true, evidently the sentence was a cliché by 1921, now 105 years ago.

At this point my luck changed! In a booth that has never included typewriters before, I spotted an Oliver no. 3 (1902-1907) for $129.99, in typical condition.

Next was ... yet another Underwood. But at least it was a visually interesting Jewell from the '50s. Price: $75. Feel: kind of rickety, like most Underwood portables of the period.

And still another Underwood! A rather "amazing," as the seller says, wide-wide-carriage model for $110.

That was it for the typewriters. No, I didn't buy any of them. If I were a beginning collector, though, I would have gotten the Oliver for sure. How about you?

There was one more item that did tempt me. This Burroughs Calculator is so cute and well-preserved! It's strictly an adding machine, with no other arithmetic functions, and it works quite simply. As you input amounts on the keyboard, the display facing you immediately updates the total. The crank on the right resets the device to zero.

You never know what — or Whom — you'll find at the antique mall . . . . . .