Aw, not active any more, shame! Sweet thing. It's a member of the Euro, or Patria, family of typewriters.

Here's a link to some info; & here's a Patria that was on eBay this past week. I love these little things; they're from the 50s, & I have two: a Swissa Piccola that doesn't work, but which I love nonetheless, and a little Japy - the one in my avatar picture - which does work. I'd love to get one of the Byron ones, because of the name, but have only ever seen one for sale and for reasons I can't remember I didn't get it.

Fwiw, Tom the Typewriter Man here in the UK has told me that in all his years since 1975 as a typewriter repairman, he has only ever seen one Swissa Piccola. I got mine for a fiver, from a local woman - but hours and jours of toil have only shown me that I have no idea how to make it work.. These typewriters tend to come at a little bit of a price which is why I only have the two. Shame that one you saw has ended! 

And here's a fascinating page about the design itself, with a Bauhaus connection: I'm not sure I approve of his painting the typewriters, but he has tons of info, and conveys all the joy and excitement of the design. (I think the design is joyful and exciting enough to stand up to the grey!) Though I would love a Beaucourt Script, which is essentially a Japy. Here is another page, which is in German but has lots of very pretty pictures showing the lines of connection, including a Gesa at the top which is essentially the Beaucourt Script... (Confused yet?)

Actually: editing in to say that it really only is a little bit of a price, thinking about it. There have been a couple of the olivers recently on eBay.co.uk, with lovely tartan linings to the cases, and I didn't get either one because I just didn't feel in that space at the moment. They were both about £25-35 plus shipping. Had they been local  I may well have gone for one. I paid £30 for the Japy, in a shop - I guess that was the secret, because I tried it out and then it haunted me for two weeks... ;)

 

Last edited by KatLondon (30-3-2015 08:26:30)

Hiya, no, I don't get the pictures either. I just right-clicked on the URL of one of them and it turns out they were hosted on Geocities, whcih s long gone... Annoying; but the info is useful. The typewriters all look essentially the same.

Another page of his has this info (next to a picture that doesn't load): 'Yet another variety of machine imported by COMMODORE was the machine seen here and at the top of the page, a unit in my collection and which was made in Spain by Industrial Mecanografica SA.  It's their model C85, and is a member of the "Euro-Portables" family.  
 
All the machines seen here with the script-type logos are either late 50's or early to mid 1960's machines; well before the introduction of the new style logo.  All were found in the US or Canada, and none was made either in the US or Canada.'

I did an image search on Commodore typewriters and they all looked very familiar - almost as if they specialised in repackaging other companies' designs. 

This design of typewriter was licensed to many typewriter manufacturers, though, so the presence of one name or another on it just means that this company had the license at some point. Maybe someone like Michael Höhne or Uwe will know more about Commodores...
 

Aw, well shoot.  I wish I'd bid for it now!  Interesting stuff.

Well, I'm not feeling any better for passing up up now, 

I think the paint could have been cleaned up.  The listing said it was glue, and being a mom, I'm an expert at getting glue off of things.  I did not notice the missing platen knob though.  How I could have missed that will remain a mystery.  I must have been distracted by imagining how to get the glue off.

Last edited by Spazmelda (30-3-2015 11:55:37)

Man! I was the first bidder, and if I had made my max bid higher I would have won it!  Oh well, I think I really need to slow down on my online purchases anyway. I'm running out of room faster than I am gaining it by selling.