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I had recently became interested in manual typewriters. My mother had bought me one when I was a teenager, I think it may have been a Remington 1930s or 1940s. I regret not having the machine any longer. I have an Olympia Traveller C I bought brand new online a few years ago, but I wanted something vintage. I watched Ebay everyday but was hesitate going that route. A few weeks ago I noticed an estate sale sign and took a chance I would find something there.
Not only did I find the Hermes, but a Smith Corona Skywriter which I had been searching for all along. I couldn't decide which one I wanted because they were both in near mint condition. I ended up buying both and was so glad I did. I cleaned up the Hermes and it types great and everyting works. The Skyriter needed a new ribbon and I wanted to clean the inside but couldn't open it up to do it so I ended up taking it to a typewriter repair shop for a tune up and a new ribbon. I'm still waiting for it and can't wait to get typing on it.
I felt so lucky to have come across these two machines. There were actually four machines there which included a IBM selectric and I was tempted to get the selectric also, but I just don't have the room and I wanted something I didn't have to plug in.
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Probably a good call on the Selectric. Not only are they big, but they are incredibly complex machines and often develop issues when they go long stretches without use or repair.
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Hi JustAnotherGuy. I thought the same thing though I love the selectric. I figured anything could go wrong with them since I used selectrics on the job many many years ago and it would be very costly to repair if I could even find someone in my area to fix one. Thanks for the input!
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Good call buying both, IMO. I've got a Rocket. I think yours is earlier than mine. A Skyriter is on my list for the future. I definitely want one with white keys, like the one you picked up.
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My Skyriter has green keys which I wanted. But I'd like to get one with white keys too or a later model.
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Oh, sorry. They look white on my screen here.
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Oh God, it's like that dress! I'm seeing a 'seafoam' Hermes Rocket which will have mint green keys, and a brown Skyriter with those white Smith-Corona keys. When Smith-Corona did green keys they were of a dark enough green that they couldn't really look white...
I found an absolutely beautiful 1950 Skyriter, with the green keys and contrasting function keys, and the stripes along the top, and it's a dream. It types really nicely. Then the drawband snapped...
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I thought of the dress too! [I ONLY ever saw it as blue and black, btw.].
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Haha, I only ever saw white & gold! The other day on the internet I saw a headline that said 'people who saw white & gold are happier', whatever that means. You seem happy enough to me ;)
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Olivetiger wrote:
Your eyes aren't playing tricks on you, the keys are white in this picture. The Skyriter pictured here is a later generation, with a longer return lever. These later Skyriters have white keys, the early ones have green keys (and a tiny carriage return lever).