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06-12-2016 11:37:16  #1


 

06-12-2016 12:47:48  #2


Re: Thought I had seen everything....

What's your problem with this? More than you want to pay, or what? What does this add to what you have seen?

 

06-12-2016 12:49:29  #3


Re: Thought I had seen everything....

Well, at least it looks like it might actually be "near mint and refurbished." But yes, the price is, well, asperational.

 

06-12-2016 13:48:55  #4


Re: Thought I had seen everything....

I think the meaning of the idiomatic phrase 'takes the cake' says it all when discussing a refurbished, so-called near mint example of a commonly available typewriter at an exceptionally aspirational pricepoint  ?

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06-12-2016 17:13:40  #5


Re: Thought I had seen everything....

I think they have been relisting that one for a while now, as I have seen it before; though I think the price has gone up for some reason.

 

12-12-2016 09:13:09  #6


Re: Thought I had seen everything....

IT DOES in all fairness look quite unusually pristine; in a period film that would pass for a new machine. Even the leather case looks supple and plump - I've never seen anything like that before. (& does the manual look a little suspiciously new?)

But for two grand (cough) I should think you'd want to see side and back views and a type sample... 

If something isn't selling, counter-intuitively enough putting the price UP does sometimes help it to shift. Someone might like to watch it and see what happens. 

 

12-12-2016 10:37:59  #7


Re: Thought I had seen everything....

I'm in two minds about this.  At first I thought the price way too high, but then I questioned whether I had ever seen this model in such a good condition - and I haven't. So what is the 'standard' or 'fair' price for such a fabulously clean machine - who knows!  I guess if you are Tom Hanks, get 15 million plus per film, have a stake in HBO, and want an example of this machine as good as can be found - it could even be a bargain.  In that sort of financial world, 2k is probably of lower value than the three loose coins rolling around the floor of my car is to me.


Sincerely,
beak.
 
 

12-12-2016 11:05:38  #8


Re: Thought I had seen everything....

There are indeed no really trustworthy points of reference for typewriter pricing in this high area, since there are so few 'takers' for expensive, but normally available machines (so I donlt mean the really vintage, museum level ones that will normally go for 4 figures anyway.)

Nonetheless, seeing the prices for these types of Imperials in excellent condition, this is way over the top.
1,000 would have been quite high already, and 1,995 is beyond belief.

It is being sold as refurbished, and it certainly is.... The paintwork I see here has clearly been highly buffed with car wax or totally repainted with new decals. I have also never seen a keyboard with pure white paper letter backgrounds, even if it was kept in the dark for 100 years. The 'pristine' instruction manual shows no signs of normal paper aging. Many parts normally only summarily finished the the factory have been highly polished, etc. That's why the price is so high: and act of love by someone who really enjoyed it.

So for the money, you get a beautiful machine, for sure.
However it is one which is bascially a fake object, like a holographic or high end color print copy of the Mona Lisa. An Imperial from the factory, mint and unused for years and years might be a different story, becuase such items are truly rare.
 

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12-12-2016 17:25:11  #9


Re: Thought I had seen everything....

Rushwarp, there are so many assumptions in your assessment of it though - you've written off this machine as both 'normally available' and 'fake', when in fact it's not really either of those things. You talk of wax or polish as if it were some sort of evil wizardry, and seem to think that replacing the letters on the keytops is some sort of dishonesty - but you have no idea what was there before. Maybe nothing. The machine has been restored to what the ad calls 'showroom' condition, and as such it's certainly not something that's 'normally available'. It seems to have been a labour of considerable skill, patience and time.

Sure, the price is stupidly high - but in all fields of collecting, the value is pretty much whether that's the thing someone wants times what you can get for it. The price here is not for an old, common-or-garden IGC. It's for a time machine, an as-new, shiny, pristine IGC that you can imagine you've just bought a typewriter shop in the Strand, late one December afternoon in 1936. You've declined the assistant's offer to wrap it. As you walk about into the teeming, dark street, with its crowds of pedestrians, omnibuses and even a few horses, the typewriter is heavy - but it's good and solid and it's just what you need. It looks almost too new - it smells almost too new - but there's nothing you can do about that for now, and you reflect that at least it lends an appearance of prosperity. A fog is beginning to settle and the street lights glow feebly. Lyons Corner House is right across the street, brightly lit and welcoming with a promise of tea; you can see the Nippies moving among the tables, and there was that sweet girl you liked the look of the other day; but there's no time for that now. You pull down the brim of your hat, turn up the collar of your greatcoat, and brace yourself for the meeting with Abercrombie. Nothing for it but to leave Lyons and the lovely Nell behind, and head for Fleet Street, new leather handle held tightly in your hand...

 

12-12-2016 18:09:43  #10


Re: Thought I had seen everything....

I fully agree it is beautiful - beyond a doubt! And I love your imagery about it as well, very charming and convincing too  !

However if you take typewriters seriously (as seriously as other antiques I mean), then there is a big difference between factory fresh and restored. It is no different with (serially produced) antique telgraph equipment from 100 years ago. Such an old example, untouched by restoration is worth a lot with the original patina and packaging, etc. becuase it is as the hands that made it...It connects 'us' to 'them'.

Restore an old telegraph, shine it up and make it like new, and the value drops like a stone. Same applies to any valuable car, book, painting, etc. etc.

A real time capsule (for me and many collectors anyway) is the mint out of factory, unused and perfect condition piece which was never retouched or 'cleaned up.' It is just the way things work with all antique items - unless you just want to show them. This typewriter is gorgeous, but it is in now way a time capsule in that sense, if you follow, although it is truly lovely and atmospheric piece.
 

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