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Aargh, the above makes more sense when the first sentence reads "Talking about currency symbols I've just acquired a later Olivetti Lettera 22 (with the square keys) which has a German keyboard."
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Spent the day working on the new arrival cleaning it up, the second row of keys show abrasion along the top but it's not too noticeable to the eye, it looks a lot worse in the photo. The pink sticker covers the Ö key on the German keyboard layout.
IMG_0024 by Flighter, on Flickr
The Ö type slug has been removed at some time in the past and replaced with a £ and $ one…
IMG_0025 by Flighter, on Flickr
… or rather it looks like two half slugs, I'll be interested to see how well aligned they are once I get a new ribbon for it, the ribbon that it came with is completely dry and leaves no mark at all.
IMG_0026 by Flighter, on Flickr
A couple of questions; did Olivetti ever make a combined £ $ slug and are these half slugs from Olivetti or elsewhere?
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The 'half slugs' are what is called a 'split typeface'. Two typeface are literally sawn in half using a junior hacksaw and soldered on. It is a very difficult job to do correctly, and one that many typewriter mechanics used to fear. It looks like a very competent job.
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Thanks for that. I can imagine it must be quite a challenge getting both halves aligned, I wouldn't even want to solder on a complete slug, never mind two halves.
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Wow terrific job, I knew it was possible but never seen one such work in the flesh. IIRC there was a famous specialist in NY dubbed 'The King of Typewriters' that had an archive of tens of thousands of different typefaces and who could construct any imaginable character set at will. So, somehow he soldered them to levers - that did not make the work any easier though.
BTW I discovered that 'Spanish' keyboard with no inverted quaotation marks but with tilded N are far from unusual in South/Central America, and Costarican, Argentinian and Uruguayan have these and also have fraction keys. All three of them have also both pound and dollar typefaces! Bolivian, Ecuadorian and Mexican keyboards share some of these characteristics (never knew there were that much different 'Spanish' keyboards) . If you want to check there is a nice guy whi patiently shared on Youtube all of 138 different optional keyboards for Everest (Serio) machines. Olivetti surely had at least some declination of these available. Just search the 'tube' video titled : " Identify your typewriter’s keyboard: 138 layouts of different nations " by y-tuber "Old Typerwriters and Calculators" (I do not know if deep link to other services is allowed here). The video is very informative if language layouts are your thing.
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Many thanks for that, duna, I shall go and have a look at that Youtube channel, those sort of things interest me! South/Central America makes sense. I guess in that era there might still have been quite a bit of trade with the UK which justified having the £ as well as the $.
Yes, that combined £ and $ type bar is impressive, I wouldn't want to solder a whole slug onto a type bar never mind two halves; I imagine when one half is aligned the other half moves out of alignment. The King of Typewriters must have been very patient.