In addition to a "Recent Acquisitions Thread," I think we should add a "Should I Buy It?" thread, where indecisive people (like me) can look for either critical consideration or unquestioning affirmation as to whether you should or should not acquire that particular typewriter you saw on eBay, Craigslist, flea market, etc. Thoughts?

M. Höhne wrote:

Liability. (not legal; just bad feelings about advice that didn't work out)

Ignorance.

Unknown Condition.

...

I was simply thinking about having a sounding board/unquestioning affirmation. For example: "Should I buy a 1960s RC Allen or a 1913 Remington 10?" (as is my current dilemma), I would think that the correct answer would always be, "yes, you should buy them both!" 

Then again, we already DO have fairly frequent questions from folks--"I'm thinking about buying an LC Smith 8, is $1500 too much to pay?" So we could just continue to do the same thing in an ad hoc fashion. 

Added another couple of Remingtons to the throng at my house.
I have had my eye on a Remington Deluxe Noiseless Portable for the better part of a year, while it languished at an antique mall a couple of towns away.
Yesterday my dear wife was on the way to the once per month bulk food store and asked if there was anything I needed there. Seeing as the antique store with the Remington was just down the road from the grocery store, I quipped about getting the typewriter and will wonders never cease, she said "sure, where abouts in the antique store is it ?"
So for $70. that machine came home where I immediately broke the skimpy little draw band (more like a draw string...) and didn't even get to try some paper in it.
Just as well I suppose, the platen rollers are too hard to properly draw in paper so they'll have to be replaced before I can give a better evaluation.
Really this machine is identical to the Underwood Noiseless Portable I have so it has all the same features and functions.
The Remington is a little dirty here and there and the case is a little ratty (where as the Underwood is spotless with a great case) and the draw band will need to be up-graded to something a bit tougher.
I do expect it will work just as well as the Underwood when it has been gone through and cleaned up.
The other machine is a Remington 12 Standard that belongs to a sturdy old fellow from church.
This machine is just visiting for now while I go through it and clean it up for him.
It was apparently kept in an unheated attic space for some time and he said it did work when he put it away several years ago.
Well it kind of moves around under its own power but, I'm thinking that once I get rid of the fiberglass wall insulation that some mouse has completely packed the inside with, it'll probably work much better.
An interesting machine this one. While I was trying to figure out where the ribbon mounted I opened the side doors to discover the actual location of the afore mentioned spools and the huge mass of the afore mentioned mouse abode. This prompted me to very quickly take the machine out to the garage in case there were any remaining mice waiting to make good their escape.
I'm hoping that because I didn't smell any mouse smell in the machine, that the nest had not yet been completed and occupied,  causing serious damage.
I don't know yet if my friend will want this machine back but, I may see if he would like to trade for one of my electro-mechanicals.  

Hi all,

So it's been a while since I last got some new typewriters, and I was lucky enough to find several to my liking.

The one I'm most pleased about is this Erika 5. Not only does work perfectly, but the previous owner (who I don't know - I bought it on Germany Ebay) actually put on a new, refurbished platen. Makes all the difference. But most special is its keyboard. I was looking for a Yugoslav keyboard for a while now, and this Erika has a cool, half-Yugoslav, half-German keyboard.
As long as I've got your attention, I can't seem to find the serial number. Could anyone guide me in the right direction?

I.den wrote:

I can't seem to find the serial number. Could anyone guide me in the right direction?

​On my Erika 5 it's located directly under the middle of the space bar, stamped into the keyboard frame.