1 - ninive
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My blue Olympia Traveller de Luxe
Here's my blue Olympia Traveller de Luxe. Besides an almost dry ribbon it's in great condition.
This was made for the italian market, or maybe italian and french, as it has the QZERTY keyboard and all our accents (plus some french ones).
I originally planned to get a classic white Olympia Traveller but the sale didn't go through so I searched again and found this, I had to have it because blue is my favourite color.
I put the ribbon upside down in an attempt to find some more ink in it but it didn't really work... as I only write for myself I can always start typing in red.
Can you help me date it?
Last edited by ninive (23-5-2015 09:17:19)
- Uwe
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Re: My blue Olympia Traveller de Luxe
That's a beautiful colour, and of course a fantastic typewriter. Congratulations! As for dating it, the photo you took is not of the serial number, but a part number instead. The serial number is located under the carriage in the right rear corner of the machine near the bell. Just push the carriage all the way to the left and you'll be able to see it. The number should start with either a "5-", "15-", or a "95-".
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- ninive
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Re: My blue Olympia Traveller de Luxe
Ah, now I see it. I thought it was that one because it's the same lenght and starts with a 5...
the number is: 5-2248820
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Thread Starter- Uwe
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Re: My blue Olympia Traveller de Luxe
It's a 1971 model, which is significant as that was the year that Olympia began to sub-contract the manufacture of the Traveller to UNIS in Yugoslavia. However, based on your photos it's obvious that your machine was still made in Germany as I believe there was an overlap period when they were being made in both countries. In another thread here we were discussing the significance of the first digit of the number, in your case the 5-, so the more contributors we have here with their numbers the more sense it might hopefully make.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- ninive
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Re: My blue Olympia Traveller de Luxe
Do you know other details? Because I saw a few Olympias similar to mine but with english or german keyboards made in Yugoslavia.
While there are others with italian or spanish keyboards that were made in Germany like mine. It's possible that only typewriters with certain keyboards were made in Yugoslavia.
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Thread Starter- kpropaganda
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Re: My blue Olympia Traveller de Luxe
The prefix numbers stay confusing. I was going for 95, which I have on several Splendids and SFs with the manufacturer plates attached, to represent Wilhelmshaven, and 15 for Sarajevo. All my 15s - 2 Unis and 2 Olympia Travellers, have mainframes marked UNIS. The paper where I noted all serials and the years, which are also marked on the frames, is in the shop, of cours, while I am at home just now.
What third production location could there be? Or could it be that there is a preceeding 1 or 9, but hard to see, badly embossed, or maybe too little light when peeking inside ... sigh. All I remember is that the years on the frames do not go in line with the serials, ie there is one Unis-made machine with a higher serial, but earlier year on the frame than one other.
@ Ninve: Have a close look on the inside aluminium main frame of your Traveller. If it was UNIS made, that should be visible there, the mark is on several locations, if I remember well, and it's easy to spot underneath the carriage or underneath the spools. I don't know if Wilhelmshaven made Travellers have something corresponding as I do not have any.
- ninive
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Re: My blue Olympia Traveller de Luxe
I'm not sure what you mean, there isn't any other writing that I can see. Near that code I mistook for the serial there's a circle with a 71 inside, don't know what it means. Then the only thing it doesn't show in the pics is another Olympia plate on the back.
Looking better at it the prefix might be a 15, but it doesn't solve anything...
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Thread Starter- Uwe
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Re: My blue Olympia Traveller de Luxe
ninive wrote:
I'm not sure what you mean, there isn't any other writing that I can see.
Yours is a German made model, so there shouldn't be anthing on the internal frame except for what you have already found. It's only the Yugoslavian made models have the factory stamp "Unis-TBM" on the frame.
As for the keyboards, Olympia at one point advertized that it offered over 120 different keyboard variations. Most likely those weren't all available on the Traveller models, but I'm sure a good variety were and that they were all produced from the same factory. After all, we're only talking about slugs and keys and I can't think of a reason why one factory would produce some keyboards and not another. Also, I don't think the Traveller was still made in Germany once full production had started in Yugoslavia.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- Uwe
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Re: My blue Olympia Traveller de Luxe
What third production location could there be? Or could it be that there is a preceeding 1 or 9, but hard to see, badly embossed, or maybe too little light when peeking inside ... sigh. All I remember is that the years on the frames do not go in line with the serials, ie there is one Unis-made machine with a higher serial, but earlier year on the frame than one other.
Well, the 5- models I have are often engravings, so it's derfinitely not a case of the '1' or '9' not being easy to see (and no, the bell isn't hiding anything 
):
And on this machine, it's obvious from the difference in size, that the 5- was pre-stamped on the frame before the individual serial number was added later on, so again, I don't think it's a matter of a bad stamping:
It would be nice if the number represented a factory code, but I have my doubts. Perhaps the number indicates which company (a sub-contractor) supplied the frames to Olympia? I will definitely have to spend a little time with this even just to check my own machines for a clue as to their meaning.
I agree with you that the frame information for the UNIS-TBM machines does NOT match the manufacture dates supplied in the database. On some I've noted that they might only be a year off, but on others, one machine in particular, it was several years. I can understand how a frame could be manufactured and dated in 1976, and the entire machine assembled and sold as a 1977 model, but not when that gaps is three or four years.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- TypewriterGuy
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Re: My blue Olympia Traveller de Luxe
Ive always wanted one of those QZERTY keyboards.
Anyways, nice typer!
Back from a long break.
Starting fresh with my favorite typer. A Royal Futura!
