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20-10-2017 14:39:49  #1


dating via serial number

How does one go about dating your typewriter? I have seen the typewriter database website, but I don;t know exactly how it works. I see some post theirs in the gallery with their serial number, but how does that help me determine mine? Is there a list with a range of serials by year? My SM3 is a 596,xx number.

 

20-10-2017 15:06:21  #2


Re: dating via serial number

Go to the Typewriter Database and click on Olympia. Then, rather than clicking on your model name to see the machines others have uploaded, scroll down and you'll see the models listed for Olympia and serial numbers by year. I think mostly it's the serial number range beginning with a certain year.

 

20-10-2017 15:16:41  #3


Re: dating via serial number

gnuyork wrote:

My SM3 is a 596,xx number.

Serial #590,001 to 744,180 = 1955
 


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

22-10-2017 09:22:41  #4


Re: dating via serial number

Thanks!

     Thread Starter
 

22-10-2017 20:04:50  #5


Re: dating via serial number

I'm having a similar problem. I went to the Underwood page on the database, but the serial number-686970911 doesn't seem to match any of the photos on the site.

 

23-10-2017 16:06:35  #6


Re: dating via serial number

Typingrav wrote:

I'm having a similar problem. I went to the Underwood page on the database, but the serial number-686970911 doesn't seem to match any of the photos on the site.

Serial #6,814,000 to #6,900,000 = Jan. 1951

The first thing is that you have to drop the last two digits from that number you posted because it indicates the platen length and isn't part of the actual serial number (there should have been a hyphen in front of the '11' on your machine).

And you need to ignore the photo in the database because it isn't representative of all the standard model variants that existed between 1931 and 1968.

As for the model itself, it's an Underwood Rhythm Touch. The database tends to identify models by how they appeared in a manufacturer's internal documentation, but I prefer - in the absence of a model badge on a machine - to describe typewriters by how they were described/labeled by a manufacturer in their marketing of the typewriter to the public. 
 


The pronoun has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
 

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