Five machines added to the collection today:

1) 1952 Royal KMG with a 15 inch carriage.
2) 1956 Olivetti Lettera 22 that turned out to be a very nice surprise. I generally dislike the type feel of Olivetti machines, but I buy them anyway because of their undeniable design aesthetic. This particular Lettera 22, which was made in Scotland, actually has a wonderful type action and it instantly became my favorite Olivetti ultra-portable in my collection. As a bonus it has a QWERTY International keyboard, which for my uses is extremely practical. Finally an Olivetti portable that I can live with! 


3) 1963 Olympia Socialite with a SF type action that's in fine tune: it's smooth, light, and yet built like a compact tank.


4) 1977 Olympia Traveller that was made in Yugoslavia (I can't avoid these Yugoslavian models when what I'm really after is a Wilhelmshaven version of the machine). Unfortunately it has a cursive typeface, but otherwise a nice machine.
5) 1990s Adler Junior 12 that was made by Nakajima All. It needed repairs before I could even test it, but with that done it types predictably well for a Japanese budget portable.

Spazmelda wrote:

Here is a Christmas present I got yesterday!

 
Someone was on the nice list this year!

tojeem wrote:

That's gorgeous! Such a fine machine. I've always loved the Blickensderfer. Does it still work?
 

Not quite.  The carriage mostly moves if I type, but the return lever doesn't work and the feed roller is stiff and/or flattened a bit, so paper won't feed in.  I can get it to type if I shove a piece of paper under the type element, but it's going to need some more work before it's functional.

My husband knows I like projects!

tojeem wrote:

I'd be interested to know why you're disappointed with the cursive typeface. I like the idea of a cursive typeface but I've never managed to find a typewriter in my area that has one. 

 ​Simply because of its poor legibility, which means that its not a very practical typeface - for me. Compare two pages filled with the exact same text side-by-side, one typed out in a standard typeface and the other in cursive, and it becomes immediately obvious why cursive would never be the first choice for a prolific writer. Aside from possibly typing out the odd invitation card or personal letters to friends, it has very limited uses: For my typewriter needs, cursive typefaces are nothing more than quaint novelties, something that you might play with for a while and then quickly bore of. That's not to say that every collection shouldn't have one cursive machine. It's worth noting that this machine was owned by someone who had two other machines, a standard equipped with an elite typeface and another portable with a pica typeface, which leads me to believe that the cursive machines was for occasional use only, and explains why it was the cleanest of the three.