Underwood Portable 4-Bank (1926)

It all started with an Underwood portable.  I can't even remember why I was browsing eBay in the first place; I'd bought a first edition through them years ago, but I rarely went to the site.  And I didn't harbor any particular interest in antiques, so I certainly don't know how I ended up in the vintage typewriter section.  Yet I somehow found myself going through pages of seller postings: spindly Blickensderfers, sleek Coronas, stately Royals.  Then I saw her. Smooth silvered-rimmed glass keys.  The red of a two-tone ribbon stark against her glossy black paint.  What can I say?  It was love at first sight.

I couldn't bear to bid on her (it just felt so tawdry),so I paid the full asking price by clicking on the "buy it now" tab and sealed the deal right then and there.

Impulse control has never been my strong suit, and this isn't exactly the best time in my life to be indulging such things, so buyer's remorse set in pretty quickly.  But that only lasted so long as it took for FedEx to deliver her.  She was even more beautiful in person.  Somehow both sturdy and elegant at the same time.  The faint scent of machine oil follows her wherever she goes.  She's eighty-five years old, but doesn't look a day over twenty-five.  I was incredibly lucky that she was in good condition because I didn't do any of the due diligence that I should have before buying her.  Her typebars need to be slightly adjusted (the lettering is a bit uneven), and she needs a new ribbon, but she's an absolutely gorgeous machine.  I can't wait to get her fixed up and put her to work.

 

Beautiful, shiny, glass keys

Typebars