1 - KatLondon
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- Registered: 11-10-2014
- Posts: 995
More new typewriters
So... this week I bought on impulse a grey Splendid 66 with dark brown keys and a Danish keyboard. I got it from someone I've bought from before and it was a real pleasure. And the typewriter! A little sweetheart. Everything about it is great, except that the bell doesn't work - it clunks - & except for the little fact I just learned about Danish: apparently it hasn't got an apostrophe... Woops!! But it's pica - perfect, since my splendid 33 is elite. (& I actually did manage to fix the bell on that one.)
Then I was idling away some time on eBay, as you do - especially when on deadline - when I saw this cute little poorly listed SM8... the later one, also with the brown keys, but it was starting at £5 and in London and looked okay in the picture. So anyway, I went to get it today and gave the guy his fiver. Lugged the thing home all across town. Sat in a cafe and checked it out, put a ribbon in it and was just finding that it types like a dream, when a woman came up to me all excited - she's Italian and a journalist and started out on typerwriters... & she insisted on taking a picture of me on my phone! Sweet.
In the middle of all that, one of my procrastinating searches one day brought up a REALLY badly listed... Blickensderfer Featherweight! God alone knows what condition it is in - looks a little tired, with a few bits of rust, but nothing too bad. But I've never even seen one in the flesh before. I started reading up as soon as I saw it, to get a sense of whether this one looks all right. It does. I was once again the only person who bid, and got it for £20. It's exciting!! The guy has sent me his phone number so in the morning I'll call him and arrange a time to go get it. Woooo! So that makes three typewriters in one week. And one of them's a Blickensderfer. Time to stop and consolidate, I reckon.
You see so many typewriters in eBay and in shops for really ludicrous prices - but it is really possible if you're canny and patient to get brilliant ones really cheap. Even in London.
- ztyper
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Re: More new typewriters
You got a Blick?! I must say, you're on fire this week! I try looking for cheap machines on ebay, but people in the States just don't realize that just because it's old, doesn't mean it's worth $200. Man... I envy you greatly. You are one lucky person KatLondon.
A high schooler with a lot of typewriters. That's pretty much about it.
- Uwe
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Re: More new typewriters
I thinks it's high time you show us some of those machine Kat!
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- KatLondon
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Re: More new typewriters
Ha - I was going to the other day but there was some problem with my wordpress and the links wouldn't copy & paste... I'll take one of the Blick when I've got it home, later in the week. In the meantime, here is the SM8 getting settled in - see, Ive made it feel at home by using the matching mug!
Sorry it's so huge - when I have a minute I plan to make a little Japy album in the gallery section, as I know it's harder to find a Japy in the US. I'll resize those.
And re the Blick, well, that's an advantage of being in a lace where lots more stuff just *is* older, I guess! My main road, which I can see from my balcony, is a Roman road. My block of flats - ie apartment building - is about the same vintage as the Blick. If you see a modern building in this neighbourhood, it's most likely because a bomb fell on that spot during the Blitz.
Last edited by KatLondon (26-1-2015 08:00:15)
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Thread Starter- KatLondon
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Re: More new typewriters
And here are the two Splendids... I really will resize later pictures...!
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Thread Starter- Uwe
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Re: More new typewriters
KatLondon wrote:
here is the SM8 getting settled in - see, Ive made it feel at home by using the matching mug!
That's brilliant! A cup of coffee is the essential accessory to any typewriter. Nice photos; I hope we see more soon.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- KatLondon
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Re: More new typewriters
Oh, and ztyper, I do feel lucky! The guy I got the Blick Featherweight from, he seems to have quite a few random sort of 'antique curiosities'., and they are all up at £20. I think he just thinks, if several people bid, fine, and if not, fine. It may even be a shop, I'm not sure yet. The listing had a typo in it and got the model name wrong, and said something like, 'Oh I expect someone somewhere might want this thing'...
My eBay method is very specific and a bit brutal. Regular searches on very open and also on very specific search terms. Try and winkle out the badly listed things where someone is just clearing out their mum's house. After the SM5 fiasco I ONLY search locally - no more shipping! So I'm getting to go to new parts of London to pick things up, which is nice. (Yesterday I ended up waiting on a train platform in Blackfriars station which was actually right over the Thames, looking towards Waterloo Bridge and the London Eye - it was a sunny Sunday morning and there were lots of people crossing the bridge below, and it was just quite lovely. And the place I went to was cute, very suburban. Coming back on the train or the bus with a typewriter in its case, you feel like you have secret treasure...) If I see something I like, I do the research, find other photos to compare it to, download the manual, look at prices, & work out exactly how much I'm prepared to go up to. And I don't go over it. If I don't get an item, I have nothing to regret - it was over what I was prepared or able to pay. And I never, ever, ever bid till the final minute of the auction. 
Last edited by KatLondon (26-1-2015 15:41:16)
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Thread Starter- ztyper
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Re: More new typewriters
Well, not paying for shipping is out of the picture for me because I don't live in a city (though NYC is just an hour away by train). So I'm stuck occasionally finding them in flea markets and ebay. But that's ok, because it means that I am forced to limit myself so I don't lose all of my money.
A high schooler with a lot of typewriters. That's pretty much about it.
- KatLondon
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Re: More new typewriters
Ahh, so where do you live? My family's from New York - I was born in Manhattan.
My problem with shipping isn't just the money, it's that two typewriters have arrived completely broken - in the second case even after I sent the guy a link on how to pack it. It was an otherwise mint SM5, which fortunately I had got for £15 - I haven't even tried to get the money back, I'm so fed up. It's so beautiful and SO not working. Anyway, keeping it local limits the temptation! I did buy a 1948 Royal QDL in Edinburgh - sentimentally, exactly the same as my mother's old one, and you don't really see them so much over here - and asked a friend to pick it up and send it, but I think he's too nervous to ship it now! So he feels guilty, and I'm feeling guilty for asking him!
Last edited by KatLondon (26-1-2015 18:43:36)
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Thread Starter- ztyper
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Re: More new typewriters
So far, I haven't had any typewriters broken from transport yet (I really hope it's never...). In fact, the 1929 Royal Portable I got back in October was almost OVER packed. It took my ten minutes to even get it out of its bubble wrap. But the least any thing was packed, was my recent addition of a Remington Noiseless 7. It was in a bad used box an had a few old plastic bottles in it. Not sure why, but it came in one piece. But I have time on my hands, so I hope if anything comes broken, then I can fix it.
Oh, and I live in New Jeresy. By Edison, so it's close to Manhattan, Newark, Morristown, etc.
A high schooler with a lot of typewriters. That's pretty much about it.
