Typewriters | Chris Aldrich

Most Collected Typewriters on the Typewriter Database

In reflecting on my own typewriter collection, I thought I’d look through it to see how some of the models I gravitate toward compare to those others are collecting. As a potential proxy for this, I took a look at the most popularly collected typewriter models according to the Typewriter Database and compiled a list of the top fifty, which appears below. (Numbers in parenthesis are the number of examples in the database.)

Naturally the data isn’t perfect and some of the numbers broadly track the manufacturing numbers of some of the most widely made models across the 20th century, particularly models which, though they changed in style and design over time, kept the same model name for decades. Despite this, the list of the top 50 doesn’t seem too far off of what one might expect.

Which models would you have expected to see more of? Which less? Does your taste in machines track the most “popular” by this measure? How does this list compared to the Rarity vs. Desirability list from ETC Magazine with respect to your collection? What other measures or benchmarks might one consider in collecting?

Have you uploaded all of your own examples to the Typewriter Database to help “even out” the data? Even if you don’t add them all, which favorites will you add to help your “favorite team” move up the rankings?

1. Royal Quiet De Luxe (610)
2. Smith-Corona Sterling (400)
3. Olympia SM3 (381)
4. Hermes 3000 (363)
5. Olympia SM9 (340)
6. Underwood 5 (304)
7. Olivetti Lettera 32 (262)
8. Corona 3 (252)
9. Smith-Corona Silent (246)
10. Remington Portable (244)
11. Olivetti Lettera 22 (241)
12. Royal P (240)
13. Hermes Baby (227)
14. Royal 10 (225)
15. Smith-Corona Skyriter (213)
16. Smith-Corona Silent Super (211)
17. Underwood Universal (175)
18. Royal KMM (163)
19. Remington Quiet-Riter (150)
20. Corona 4 (143)
21. Smith-Corona Standard (140)
22. Olivetti Studio 44 (139)
23. Olympia SM4 (137)
24. Underwood Portable 4 bank (136)
25. Royal O (136)
26. Hermes Rocket (134)
27. Olympia SM7 (129)
28. Underwood Portable 3 bank (118)
29. Smith-Corona Clipper (116)
30. Smith-Corona Classic 12 (115)
31. Royal Futura 800 (114)
32. Olympia SG1 (113)
33. Hermes 2000 (112)
34. Groma Kolibri (112)
35. Royal HH (106)
36. Royal Arrow (105)
37. Underwood Champion (103)
38. Remington Deluxe Model 5 (99)
39. Continental Standard (94)
40. Remington Noiseless 7 (93)
41. Olympia SM2 (92)
42. Olympia SG3 (91)
43. Oliver 9 (87)
44. Underwood 6 (86)
45. Royal KMG (86)
46. Remington Portable 5 (85)
47. Royal Aristocrat (84)
48. Olympia SF (83)
49. Smith-Corona Galaxie Twelve (81)
50. Remington Portable 3 (80)

My typewritten baseball scorecard for Tampa Bay Rays at Atlanta Braves on 2026-03-24. I’m trying to work out the cobwebs of my scoring technique before opening day Thursday.

I also filled in a card from my #22 Numbers Game scorebook as well. It’s been ages since I tracked pitches. I’m thinking that this would be a good reason to pull out the old 0.3mm multipen for the next game.

Typewriter Plates for Collectors?

Lately I’ve been talking to a few people about book plates for book collectors who occasionally loan out their books. After the owner has died, these also become a part of the material culture and are used as provenance for future book collectors, librarians, and researchers.

These discussions have overlapped in some recent typosphere events including Sarah Everett asking for photos of repair shop labels, Lucas Dul having printed some repair shop stickers for Typewriter Chicago, and Richard Polt announcing that he’s slimming down his typewriter collection. I’m also reminded of property tags that have popped up on some of my typewriters which came out of governmental entities, banks, and other businesses as well as the custom legends, often seen in the shift keys, of glass typewriter keys to advertise dealers and repair shops.

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A post shared by Typewriter Chicago (@typewriter_chicago_)

It all prompts the question: Has anyone ever made their own permanent labels, stickers, or permanent property tags for their own typewriter collection? They could be both cool and decorative like bookplates, identify ownership, show provenance for future collectors. They could be simple like some of the old bank property numbers, or more ornate like the refurbishment water slide decals some rebuilders used in the mid-century^[1]. They could also be as basic as some of the stickers typewriter repair and sales shops used to advertise their presence. In some sense, I’m also reminded of the inscriptions and seals seen on Japanese Ukiyo-e woodblock prints.

One could include their name, acquisition date, model name (if it’s not obvious on the machine, I’m looking at you Olympia), decorative image, “ex collectione” (a la ex libris), and a personal serial number or collection number. What else might one include? Naturally one would like to have them be durable enough that they could withstand future cleanings, dips, or encounters with solvents and degreasers.

Obviously one would want these to be lovely and tasteful so as not to overwhelm a machine, potentially leave space for others in the future, and be somewhat more permanent than other tags one might have on their machines for identification. They could also be done and hidden inside body panels like some shops did for labels they used for dating clean, oil, and adjustments. Obviously one would like something better than messily hand-carving their name and social security number into the body of a machine like I’ve seen done with a variety of machines, or which Tom Hanks has done with sharpie on the hoods of typewriters he’s donated away from his collection.

One could fashion a simple metal plate to affix to their machines in the same way that Olympia added their own manufacturer’s plates? These machines also often have some blank space on them where collectors could add their own plates, stickers, or logos. Where would you have such a plate made?

Many collectors put a lot of work and time into maintaining or restoring typewriters in their collection. Why not show off some of this work and help to memorialize it for future generations? I recently came across a Marshall Plan sticker on a Royal KMG in the Typewriter Database that certainly helps to show it’s history, why not add others? A variety of tags, stickers, labels, and miscellanea have added to the patina and history of these machines, why not add your “stamp” as well?

How would you design a custom typewriter plate to represent yourself and your collection? What would you make it out of to give it some longevity? Would you put it on the outside to show it off or hide it inside?

How else might you create some more permanent provenance for the machines you care for to pass along to future generations?

Wished for Typewriter Guy - Sesame Street ReAction Figures by Super7 (Super7)

Noo-nee-noo-nee-noo…Typewriter Guy is rolling in as a ReAction Figure! Inspired by the animated character from Sesame Street, this articulated collectible is 2.5” tall with rolling wheels! This action figure takes the shape of the original television character, with colorful typewriter keys, a blank piece of paper, expressive eyes, and elongated arms with hands poised to bring new words to life. The Typewriter Guy ReAction Figure comes in blister card-back packaging with Super7 artwork influenced by the original children’s television series. Clickety-clack, tap, tap, tap—and hurry to bring this inventive character home to your collection.

This is coming out next week on the 11th, and totally unrelated: my birthday is coming up…

h/t to Joe Crawwford (#)

Olympia SG1 Standard Typewriter Clean, Oil, and Adjust

Over the weekend I stripped down my 1956 Olympia SG1 and cleaned all the body panels thoroughly. I had taken out all the old foam, but I also removed the remaining loosened felt pieces.

I flushed the internals out with lacquer thinner and blew everything out with the air compressor the following day. I replaced the rubber body bushings and replaced two missing washers on the feet. Then I put everything back together making the appropriate adjustments as I went.

Remaining servicing

Sometime in the near future I still need to replace the feet (they’re reasonably passable), the platen (rock hard), and the felt/foam. I’ll polish up the keys, chrome, and brights. I still need to polish up the keylevers and typebars which I decided not to remove and put through an ultrasonic cleaner.

It still needs a replacement set screw for the tab clear lever on the right hand side. I’ll also eventually need to replace the underlying metal connection on the right hand side card guide—it’s missing the connecting pin and part of the left metal arm. I’ve remediated most of the minimal rust, but there are a few remaining internal blemishes that could be polished up (low priority). I’ll also need to weld back on the curved, flat “spring” on the left end of the bottom of the paper table that shore itself off at some point. The tabulator can also use a bit of additional love and attention.

For historical purposes, I left the tiniest hint of “brown nicotine stain” on the right side of the carriage where a smoker apparently kept their ash tray. That side of the machine almost appeared to be a chimney based on the discoloration which was otherwise remediated.

Beyond this, it’s ready to be in the regular rotation, but will be my primary desk machine for the near future.

Replacing the Body Shell Rubber Bushings on an Olympia SG1 Typewriter

Over the weekend I made a major push on beginning restoration of the Olympia SG1 standard typewriter I picked up this past month.

One of the small issues I encountered was finding four crushed rubber bushings between the exterior typewriter shell and the main chassis at the four corners on the bottom of the machine.

View of the back corner underneath an Olympia SG1 typewriter featuring a crushed rubber washer between the body shell and the solid steel chassis of the typewriter. It look like it's less than a millimeter thick. — This black rubber bushing is so smashed you almost can’t see it above the silver screw head at the bottom of the typewriter frame. The typewriter’s foot has been removed from the vacant screw hole just to the left of the bushing screw to provide better visibility.

This is a common repair issue for the Olympia SM3 machines and one which can dramatically impair that typewriter’s functionality after several decades. I expected this would be a common enough problem, so I searched a few fora, YouTube, and some specialty Facebook Groups to see how others had done the replacement and find the specs for the original part. Sadly none were forthcoming. Has no one written this up before? Perhaps because the issue isn’t a huge problem from a functional perspective, no one has bothered?

But when you’re doing a thorough restoration on a machine you plan to put into daily use, you go the extra mile. To that end, I thought I’d write up a few notes for those who encounter this in the future, particularly as I couldn’t find quick sources on it the way one can for the SM3.

My crushed rubber husks (now more like a brittle, friable plastic) were approximately 16mmOD x 4mm ID x 2 mm, but I wanted to do better than guessing the appropriate replacement. Fortunately our friend Richard Polt has a downloadable .pdf copy of the Olympia Spare Parts Catalog and Price List for Standard Typewriters Model SG1 (Jan. 1, 1961 edition) from the Ames Supply Company on his website. Pulling it up very quickly provided a diagram of the appropriate part on page 12 and indicated it to be part number 34280-5x.6. Scrolling ahead to page 61, one discovers that the part is called a “spacing washer (rubber)” whose original specs are listed as 5⌀12⌀x4mm which originally listed for 11¢. On a German manufactured machine this is indicating a 5mm inner diameter, 12 mm outer diameter, and thickness of 4mm.

A quick spin over to the local Ace Hardware store and I was able to find a variety of Hillman rubber bushings on offer as potential replacements.

I selected Hillman part number 405784-E as the closest bushing with dimensions 1/4″ overall length; 3/16″ ID, 9/16″ major dia.; 3/8″ min. dia. and 1/8″ Hd. thickness. I picked up 4 of them for $0.95 each. Depending on availability, others might find luck ordering something of similar size and dimension from purveyors like McMaster-Carr or Grainger.

Comparison of the old bushings on the left with the new rubber bushings on the right separated by the shoulder bolts and washers in the middle. — The old (left) and the new (right).

Back at home I inserted the smaller end into the hole of the frame and screwed the shoulder bolt and washer back in to hold the frame onto the typewriter chassis. It seemed an excellent fit and this part of the machine should be in good shape for the next few decades.

If this is the only repair you’re making to your machine, I suggest you replace each one, one-at-a-time in turn. This will prevent you from needing to take apart more of the machine or removing the entire body shell to get them on and will speed up the replacement process. If you’re doing it as a larger restoration, then just install them when you re-attach the body shell. For me, loosely attaching the two rear ones followed by the two at the front and then tightening/adjusting them all seemed to be the easier way to go.

If you’re restoring your own SG1, I hope these details make your work and research a bit quicker and easier.

Rubber Grommet Repair on Remington Super-Riters and Standards

As rubber replacement is one of the necessary and sometimes more finnicky parts of typewriter restoration, I thought it would be useful to write up the details of a small recent repair for others as well as my future self.

Late last May, I did a full clean, oil, and adjust (COA) on my 1951 Remington Super-Riter . One of the few restorations steps I didn’t carry out at the time was the replacement of the rubber grommets on the two side panels and the rear panel. The rubber was so hard and brittle on most of them that they crumbled off leaving only the brass inserts. Some of them also left a sludgy black residue on the metal.

Two rows of rubber grommets and brass eyelets. — The top left is an original brass eyelet/new rubber grommet assembly next to three new rubber grommets. The bottom row features a desiccated rubber grommet next to three original brass eyelets.

This weekend, I went foraging at the local Ace Hardware store to find some replacements for the originals.

I took a reasonable guess and for 27 cents each I picked up six grommets which were the perfect size. If you’re in the market for your own replacement rubber grommets, they were Hillman part number 55051-A with the following specifications: ID: 1/8″; OD: 11/32″; Thickness: 3/16″; Grove Diameter: 1/4″; Groove width: 1/16″ .

When I went to install them, I discovered that I was able to wiggle them into the holes in the side panels. I could also get the brass grommets back in with a bit of work. However, I couldn’t discern for the life of me why they included the brass grommets from an engineering perspective. Leaving them off seems to allow a nice friction fit of the panels on the appropriate metal pins against the rubber. Further, without the brass grommets one seems to get not only a better fit, but the vibration dampening of the panels seems to work better. I also suspect the grommet life of the rubber will be better this way in the long run.

I notice that my later 1956 Remington Standard has a similar design for the side and rear panels, but in that case they’d switched to a single center pin and put two bare rubber grommets on each side of it, choosing to leave off the brass internal eyelets by this time—apparently they came to the same conclusion I had. This means that this same rubber grommet repair can be done on a variety of Remington standard typewriters made after World War II.

Editor’s Note: If you’re cleaning or repairing your own Remington Standard from this era, be sure to check and see if it’s got the Fold-A-Matic feature for making your job much easier.

If for historical or consistency reasons, you insist on the brass gromets as part of the repair of your personal machine, you can certainly manage to use the originals with some care, however, if you’ve got your own eyelet tool (which many typewriter repair people may have for inserting eyelets into ribbon for the auto-reverse functionality of Smith-Corona typewriters) you can use it in combination with new 3/16″ (or slightly smaller) metal eyelets to more permanently seat your rubber grommets into your metal panels.

Have you tried this restoration trick before? What did you use for replacements?

Close up of an index card in a typewriter carriage which reads: "Kathleen, you are a lone reed, standing tall, waving boldly in the corrupt sands of commerce." -Frank Navasky | You've Got Mail (Warner Bros., 1998) | as typed on his Olympia Report De Luxe Electric. In the background is a wooden dresser with a large screen television which has a somewhat blurry image of Greg Kinnear sitting at his typewriter from the movie.

Wished for LEGO Peanuts: Snoopy's Doghouse (LEGO)

“Dogs’ lives don’t have to have meaning.” Inspire memories of witty Snoopy sayings and bring classic comic scenes to life with LEGO® Ideas Peanuts: Snoopy’s Doghouse (21368). This model building kit for adults features a posable Snoopy figure which comes with 2 alternative leg builds for sitting and standing and 2 neck positions for lying down and standing. Display him lying on top of his house with his friend Woodstock on his belly, sitting up typing on his LEGO typewriter or in standing poses. The interior walls of the doghouse can be folded out to create a starry night sky, the perfect backdrop for Snoopy and Woodstock to ’toast’ marshmallows on the campfire A delightful gift for Peanuts comic lovers and Snoopy merch collectors, the set offers a fun way to create your own nostalgic home decor. And you can enjoy enhanced building with the LEGO® Builder app, zooming and rotating with 3D instructions, while saving and tracking progress. Set contains 964 pieces.

My birthday is in July, just after this new LEGO set is released…

Acquired 1954 Royal HH Standard Typewriter (Royal Typewriter Company)

S/N: HHS-5406732
Royal Pica Double Gothic typeface
10 characters per inch; 6 lines per inch; U.S. keyboard, 43 keys, 86 characters

Acquired via thrift on 2026-02-06. This machine continues my typewriter collection theme for 2026: hunting for great machines with less common typefaces. Gothic was an older word meaning san-serif. The “double” portion means that it’s two sets of capital letter forms.

(Sorry James…)

Capital white gothic letters typed onto a platen read: "CHRIS WAS HERE" — The white correction tape message typed (assuredly not by me!!) onto the platen was a sure sign this thrifted typewriter was destined for my collection.

After my note earlier about progress on restoring my 1936 Royal KHM typewriter, a colleague reminded me that a KHM makes an appearance in the Taylor Swift song Fortnight. Then they asked if I was just collecting machines from her videos? While I fully expect to pick up a Royal Ten one day, it’s a total coincidence. She’s obviously got great taste in vintage typing machines.