Ok, let's give this a whirl, shall we? 
I'm in the Philadelphia area and mostly buy locally off of Craigslist, so that I can negotiate and see the machine before I buy it. I'm hankering to buy a new machine, and there are three I'm considering. For me, $40-$50 is about my maximum on what I'll pay for a typewriter, except in unusual circumstances, so that means I'd have to negotiate some of these down.
 
1) LC Smith #2. Rough shape, no pictures--but mostly a surface cleaning. Asking $40. (I tried to buy this one months ago, when it was listed with pictures. He was asking $50, I said I'd pay $40. And we failed to compromise. When he re-listed it at $40 months later, I again offered to buy it at $40, but he refuses to sell to me because of the previous interaction. Jerk.) 

2) 1950s R.C. Allen (600?) with Cyrillic keyboard. Asking $95. Ad here. Additional Etsy pics here. It'd take some negotiation and a good bit of driving to get this one, but I've been watching it not sell on Craigslist for at least six months. Apparently there's not much of a market for Cyrillic typewriters on the Jersey Shore?  However, I DO collect and refurbish old typewriters, and I DO write in Russian, which likely makes me the entire market of people who'd be interested in this one, especially since R.C. Allens don't seem to be that common, especially with the Cyrillic keyboard. 

3) 1913 Remington Standard #10. Asking $75. Ad here. I've recently fixed-up a 1922 Remington 10, which I enjoyed quite immensely. This one looks in reasonably good shape, the lettering is good on the front, and I'm intrigued by the early, two-level typebars, which is unlike my later model.

I'd love to hear any thoughts on pros/cons of any of these options, and thank you in advance! 

Thanks, Uwe:
Personally, I'm more interested in pre-WWII standards, so a postwar model is a little out of my usual range. I do *technically* own a Cyrillic typewriter--a Remington Tytell, actually--but it currently resides with my friends in upstate Vermont until I get to see them next. So a postwar model might hold me over, especially one with (apparently) some history behind it. I guess it all hinges on whether I can get a good price and bundle it in with a weekend trip to the shore. ;) 

Fleetwing wrote:

Nothing very exotic -- an Underwood S (ca. 1941) locally, for $20. It's in pretty good shape, though could stand interior cleaning -- it's been in storage for some time. Main thing I saw from checking it out the other day was that the ribbon didn't seem to be advancing, though it looked to be threaded properly. I did not try the ribbon reverse crank, so haven't checked it out thoroughly. Hopefully this is just a matter of cleaning the mechanism, but I would like to know whether the ribbon issue is a large flag or not.

I was hoping to get one of the carriage-shifted Underwoods, like an SX, but I like the looks of the S (and I don't think there were too many of these made). Anything else I should keep an eye out for with the S?

Yes there is.
Look for the ones with black rings instead of metal rings around the keys. If I am correct these were made during WWII. Also check the serial number. There are some that were made up until 1943. they were only avaliable to the US government and armed forces. The ribbon system should not be that hard to fix if broken. There is complete service information available. I would buy it.
 

I know the topic of WWII Nazi typewriters has been discussed extensively on this site, but last night I stumbled across thislisting from Louisville, KY for an Olympia Robust with the SS runes. No lid, but nice wooden case. And it has the DM lettering, which seems to be very unusual for a ca. 1942 model. $300 is too rich for my blood (even though I know they can go for much, much more), but I'm curious how it got here--whether some Allied soldier brought home a souvenir from WWII battlefields. 

Markmotown wrote:

I know the topic of WWII Nazi typewriters has been discussed extensively on this site, but last night I stumbled across thislisting from Louisville, KY for an Olympia Robust with the SS runes. No lid, but nice wooden case. And it has the DM lettering, which seems to be very unusual for a ca. 1942 model. $300 is too rich for my blood (even though I know they can go for much, much more), but I'm curious how it got here--whether some Allied soldier brought home a souvenir from WWII battlefields. 

Read the two blog postings in this link about a similar Robust -- ultimately donated to a Holocaust museum: https://myoldtypewriter.wordpress.com/category/olympia-robust/