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Uwe wrote:
TypewriterGuy wrote:
ANTIQUE (When its only 25 years old...)
Technically, something 25 years and older is considered to be an antique.
That's changed then - I thought an 'antique' had to be at least 100 years old.
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"In purist terms, and according to the U.S. Customs Service, an antique is an item with at least 100 years of age under its belt. That means the scale slides every year as more objects fit into that time frame as they age."
Then Wikipedia says this,
"The common definition of antique is a collectible object such as a piece of furniture or work of art that has a high value because of its considerable age, yet it does in fact vary depending on the source, product, and year. Motor vehicles are an exception to the 100-year rule. The customary definition of antique requires that an item be at least 100 years old and in original, unaltered condition—which excludes most cars. Therefore, cars are generally considered antique if 25 years old or more. (Cars can be registered as "classic" when 20 years old.)[citation needed] This is not a universally accepted idea, but rather a convention among car collectors and enthusiasts."
Last edited by Spazmelda (30-6-2015 05:51:31)
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I consider it to be antique, but I guess to other people its 100 years old.
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The "Untested" description is the one that puzzles me the most. How flipping hard can it be?! I always read Untested as "Not Working/Broken, (but I don't want to admit it in the listing)"
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@Spazmelda: I was using the automotive standard. To my mind a typewriter has far more in common with a car than a piece of furniture or a work of art.
@malole: Properly testing a typewriter for someone who doesn't even understand how they work would be quite hard. There's more to a thorough test of a machine than just tapping the space bar and pushing down on a few keys, and personally I'd rather see a seller be honest about their limited knowledge and state that it's untested instead of typing a few words and claiming that it's tested and working. How irritated would you be if you paid for a typewriter that was claimed to have been tested and found out that the feed rollers were flat, the bell hammer was missing, and the tabulator didn't work?
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@Uwe Good point, but at the least they could say that they hit the space bar and the carriage moves.
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A lot of that is a by-product of the ignorance on the part of the seller. Consider why is the typewriter being sold in the first place? Its owner wants to get rid of it; it's taking up valuable space. So, the owner puts some enticing salesmanship to work in the hopes of unloading a "boat anchor" on some poor, unsuspecting sap who comes along. Also, I've run into something quite the reverse: I bought a typewriter once that was advertised as a 1950's manual typewriter. Now I knew by just looking at the machine I could tell it was quite a bit older. I didn't say anything to the seller because they would have upped the price, so I bought it, took it home, and looked it up in my NOMDA "blue book." It was made in 1914!! So guess what--I come out the better on that deal!!!
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Do you remember what it was? (Just curious)
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Yes. It was a Royal 10 X-series. It even ante dated glass panels. I checked underneath it to see if they were missing, but there wasn't even a bolt hole anywhere to bolt in clips to hang the glass panels.