Wow, cool.  I don't know anything about those, but it looks impressive.  I wonder how hard it would be to get it up and going?

malole wrote:

I don't know how much the database is an indication of rarity in collections?

That's a good question. I have a number of machines that I haven't added to the database yet that are not well represented there, but I wouldn't describe them as rare. Similarly, you would think that a brand such as Commodore was fairly rare based on the relatively few galleries in the database, and yet it's a dirt-common manufacturer in my area. In other words, there are many brands that very common in some regions and nonexistent in others, so we really would need to know how well the database is represented on a global scale to understand if it's a good indicator to the rarity of any particular brand. 

Id say with about 5000 or less machines ever made makes it rare.

ztyper wrote:

So what exactly makes a typewriter rare? As in, rare anywhere to anyone.

'Rare' has to be on of the most overused terms in typewriter collecting, especially in the sales hyperbole of uninformed sellers. And to be fair it's not an easy thing to define. Rare means uncommon or unusual, which would be easy enough criteria to apply if we knew exactly how many of a particular model still exists, but the problem is that we don't. For every typewriter that is currently considered to be rare, there could be dozens, even hundreds more of them still tucked away in closets or hidden in attics around the world.

The first thing I would do is toss age out of the equation; just because a typewriter is extremely old doesn't mean that it's rare or valuable, especially not in the case of those models that had decade-long production runs.

I would be equally cautious about applying the term without considering geography first. For example, imagine a Chinese typewriter manufacturer that produced millions of machines yet never exported any of them. Someone in Canada might consider them to be rare because he had never seen one before, or heard of the manufacturer. Although he could qualify the claim of rarity by stating that it was a "rare typewriter in Canada," but should forget that on any given day he might find dozens of them at a flea market in Shanghai. And since the database is an English language project, how many typewriters aren't making it into the listings because their owners (Chinese ones to use my example) don't speak English?    

At best we can only make educated guesses as to which machines are rare, and we should also be prepared to alter that description should a cache of new-in-box examples of a particular model suddenly turn up in some warehouse that was being cleared out.

In terms of the database, I think the best way to determine whether or not a machine should be considered rare would be to look at production numbers for individual models. If, for example, we know that only 300 of a certain model was produced in 1903, then it's probably safe to assume that it would qualify as being a rare typewriter. What we shouldn't do is assume something is rare just because there's only one 'gallery' of a particular model in the database. As I mentioned before, I have a number of machines that I haven't got around to entering into the database yet that are not well represented there, and yet I don't consider them to be rare because they were originally produced in large numbers and not many were exported to English speaking countries.

 

 

Uwe wrote:

Given its aparent condition, and since there probably aren't too many moving parts on it, I'd say it isn't as likely that it would sustain any damage during shipping. 

Hmm - I may get this one if no else is interested. It's just the right mix of weird and junky.