Irked by the overinflated prices on Ebay for typewriters, I’ve been casting about for other sources of reasonably priced machines to purchase. Today I purchased two I saw at auction:
- Smith-Corona Classic 12 in metallic green for $18.00
- 1969 Smith-Corona Galaxie Deluxe in steel blue for $23.00
Both appear to be in good shape and functional though one is going to need some reasonable cleaning and repair of a few linkages. I can’t wait for them to ship to see what I’ve got. They both look like a lot of fun…
@chrisaldrich I’ve lucked out finding typewriters on Ebay a few years back, well before the pandemic. I’ve also had good luck at local antique stores and charity resale shops. I hope you will post about your purchases when they come in.
@chrisaldrich
The prices on Ebay have gone up a huge amount in the last year or so.
I'm 2 out of 4 with decent and cheap typewriters from Ebay. Imperial 66 and Erika 42 just needed a clean. Hermes Ambassador has a fault I've yet to find out how to fix, and the Empire Aristocrat was in a very bad condition, dirty and drop damaged, but still fixable with my limited skills.
@bradenslen How much luck? $15-35 luck for typewriters in reasonable, cleanable shape? Too many people are pricing their old, nasty, less-than-functional machines at refurbished prices because they think they’re rare and worth far more than they really are. I’m not seeing much in the Los Angeles area for sane prices (antique shops, estate/yard sales), so auction sites seem the only way, but this adds a “shipping tax”.
You look like you’ve got a nice burgeoning collection yourself. The Olympia SM-3 and the Royal Quiet-De Luxe are lush.
I see you type-Tweeting, but are you typecasting too?
@chrisaldrich Around here in a resale shop you might find a $35 typewriter but it will be old, dirty and tired. Good ones at antique stores will be several hundred dollars but they may be willing to entertain lower offers. Big office manuals have good prices – I’ve seen $75, because of low demand. I have not checked Ebay in a long time but prices were rising back then which is why I jumped on several auctions when I did. I think the typewriter market also got a lot of action during Covid-19 lockdown.
I have not tried typecasting but it looks like fun. I know @petebrown here on Micro.blog typecasts on occasion and is also a typewriter collector.