A Junk Drunk Day and My Heart's Desire, Fulfilled: The Story of Three Typers

*Transcription below*

Greetings Typospherians,

I am finally typecasting with Molly, my cute little green keyed, red cased Royalite with obvious shift issues. Also has some ribbon alignment issues. But overall, it works. I picked this little darling up on ebay for $0.99. After a little TLC such as replacing lost screws in the base, refreshing the ribbon (which I thought I had ruined), a good cleaning, saddle soaping and repairing the leather case, she is ready to go anywhere. But Molly is not the reason I am typecasting tonight. Today, my first-round correspondence went in the mail, as well as a little impulse something to one [on the list of] correspondents, which I am certain will be blogged about once received.

I also rescued an old Underwood Standard No. 6 from the hands of keychoppers. It is almost in as sad shape as the Royal 5, but at least it can live out its twilight years in peace with me. I will attempt to revive it at some point, but for now, I am focusing on the working typers with bugs and trying to keep the ones that work well working well.

additionally, I picked up the Oliver No. 3 that I won on ebay the other day (I will link the seller below). He was very nice and told me his father had a bunch of them, and that he was now selling them off, so keep an eye on his ebay store for more grand old machines. His photos were good, response time and courteousness was phenomenal he even met me instead of shipping the Oliver.

I was gobsmacked by the sight of the grand old machine. Though I had absolutely committed to it, I just had to test it out before it hopped from his car to mine. I typed shakily, in a state of disbelief that I had an Oliver in my hands...and it actually worked. There wasn't even much dust on it, just ancient oil. Some of the typebars did stick a bit, but not enough to deter me in the slightest. It sat on my lap all the way home while I admired it, as darling said, 'in Oliverland'. When we got home I cleaned and oiled it while he refreshed the ribbon, then I tried it out. The ribbon either needs more time to soak up the WD or it needs re-inked. It looks truly ancient, with that faded blue-black sheen. It still has the ribbon covers, and the ribbon was on wooden spools, which I assume is original to the machine. After the clean/oil/test/verdict, I covered it up with a plastic computer cover and will test the ribbon again tomorrow. All in all, I adore it. I cannot wait to begin typecasting and typogramming with it!


I am including tasty photos. Also pictured are some typers seen in the wild. I have picked up three in the wild this week, and two were gifts. Antique row on Second Street in Pomona seems the place to go for this, as most of the prices are fair, most of the typers work, and extra incentive is that they are having their annual antique street fair on the 29th. I hope some of you are able to go and rescue some wonderful old machines and perhaps even share them with someone you love.

Lets put keychoppers out out business!

-Annalese Stradivarius

This is the Underwood I found in the wild and rescued, exactly as it was found. It was $15.

Two Smith-Corona portables located across the street from the Underwood. The Clipper on the left was $85. There was also a Royal portable underneath the freezer (hence the sign). There were other typers at this antique mall as well, including the Lettera 32 mentioned in my last post.

The machine for the end of the world, my Oliver No. 3! Right where it belongs, on my secretary.

Platen is a little hard. After I got it oiled and was testing it, I was putting holes through two layers of paper.

There is something ominous and enthralling about those typebars and the way they move. Draconic, skeletal, pipe organ-esque. The iron butterfly has finally landed at a very doting home!

After cleaning and oiling. It wasn't very dirty, so there doesn't appear to be too much of a difference in the photos.

Molly, the Royalite which made tonight's typecast possible. I disabled lightbox, but I'm still playing with the other suggestions, so until I get everything nice and big and legible, I'll continue to transcribe on the laptop. I over-saturated this typer's ribbon, so the type is difficult to read in person.

This one is for fun, but is also the image I'll be using for every correspondence post. All my correspondence today went everywhere with me in this bag until I put it in the post at ten till five in the afternoon. I believe it was a mail bag to begin with. It is from WWII.


A special thank-you to ebay seller serius for a fantastic and expedient transaction! The typer exceeded my expectations, as did communication and willingness to accommodate me. Thank you serius--I have the typewriter of my dreams, thanks to you!