Ah... that explains it... thank you thetypewriterman. I wonder if the serial numbers were centrally distributed. Given that the Glasgow and presumably Canada were assembly plants, the answer to that seems obvious, as the parts would have been stamped in Italy. Fascinating. By the way there is a very interesting documentary available on Youtube about Adriano Olivetti and his plant.

Well, that's all really fascinating duna. I have been wondering about the studio 44. It has the same carriage transport as my Lettera 22, very smooth indeed.


 

Yes Olivetti had exceptionally smooth carriages , running on roller bearings and a pleasure to use even after 60 years. Strange the Studio 44 isn't easy to spot in Australia, it was the Olivetti semi-standard (still portable but almost as large as a standard) and not unusual in Europe. Maybe not imported? 
I'm told that the Studio 44 wasn't  mechanically an Olivetti machine, was made by another italian company then bought by Olivetti, I cannot confirm if this is true but the cinematic of the Studio 44 is totally different from that of the Lettera 22. 
As it often happened with Olivetti, design was as important as mechanical excellence, and the 22, the 44 , along with the Lexicon 80 standard  and Divisumma desktop mechanical calculators form a formidable range of modern and sculpted designs from Marcello Nizzoli that achieved cult status as design objects. I too bought it only for the aesthetics (and  discovered a pleasurable machine to type on, indeed) as I have other machines. Nizzoli was an amazing artist, some of his designs are so iconic and copied that are now representative of  the xx century visual style. His office buildings for Olivetti Ivrea obtained Unesco world heritage status yet at the time weren't appreciated as a particularly refined or fashionable design: the real stars  were the celebrated Olivetti Shops (mostly Venice and New York) , the one in Venice-Saint Mark Square  designed by Carlo Scarpa is breathtaking and still in existence, meticulously restored.  Sorry for the OT...

I don't know when electric typewriter along. I think there was one in the typing class back in 1953. That was a long time ago. I bought my first typewriter in 1964, while serving in the West Indies. I was slow and carbons didn't help the cause. But I did sell a few short stories using a Sears Portable. I bought an Olympia electric last month. I don't like it as well as I thought I would. I'm still a writer. I use an Olympia SM9 for my first drafts.

Just picked up this $10 1959 Royal FP. My best acquisition so far, I think, of my mere 3. The right "Magic" margin was stuck and I had to move the stop by hand but its good now and now I know how to move it.    Occasional skipped spaces that I don't think are operator error but time will tell. I really need a good platform for it now that I have a pretty good typer. I like it, its smooth and seems to be in good shape.