1916 Royal 10 #X14-244372
Status: My Collection
Hunter: Brian Decker (bkdecker66)
Created: 12-23-2025 at 09:52AM
Last Edit: 05-23-2026 at 11:30AM
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Description:
2026-MAY-23 Update: I am adding some scans from hand-written notes I took in August of 1998, during a period when I was trawling antique stores in the Athens, GA area during my first full year of typewriter obsession. On 8-29-1998 (a Saturday, not surprisingly), I found this machine, #X14-244372, in the Court St. area of Washington, GA. On the previous Saturday, 8-22-1998, my records indicate that I actually encountered a "Q" model Royal 10! Of course, I had no idea at the time about that serial number, but at least I captured it down so that we have a datapoint. This was before the era of mobile phone cameras, so unfortunately I don't have any visual records, hence, it probably doesn't merit its own gallery. I am providing a link to the relevant 1923 Royal 10 "Q" version that has been added to a TWDB gallery recently.
Also today, 5/23/2026, I did the tedious exercise of looking for hits under the search "Royal 10 typewriter" on eBay, in the hopes of maybe finding another "Q" model with the S/N shown by the seller. I did not find any "Q" models, but here's a summary of my search statistics:
163 hits on "Royal 10 typewriter"
66/163 were actually Royal 10 typewriters (yes, I looked at every listing).
24/66 were clearly double-window machine; 1 of these had Regal decals indicating it was remanufactured.
37/66 were clearly single-panel machines; 2 of these had Regal decals indicating they were remanufactured.
5/66 did not have photos at the right perspective to tell for sure whether they were single or double window machines.
28 of the 66 Royal 10 listings had the serial number shown clearly, or clearly enough that I could tell with high confidence what it was.
6/28 serial numbers started with "SX-"
1/28 serial numbers started with SY- (one of the one with Regal decals)
2/28 serial numbers started with a carriage length code, but no "X": 12-1619607 and 14-682237
1/28 had no letter prefix, just "-287028". This was one of the Regal jobs.
18/28 started with "X-"
0/28 started with "Q-"
Here's a summary of these 28 machines that had the S/N provided:
X-276631 (1916)
-287028 (1917?) - Regal decal and Regal key label on the right shift key. Regal might have modified the S/N, as it is just "-287028" with the dash but no preceding letter.
X-396220 (1919)
X-399446 (1919)
X-458326 (1919)
X-593698 (1921)
X-647391 (1922) - AZERTY key layout, located in Bassu, France.
14-682237 (1923?) - this seems to be the S/N, but no letter prefix and 6 not 7 digits in the main serial code.
X-733858 (1923) - double window
X-734694 (1923) - double window
X-830020 (1924) - single window
X-868000 (1925) - single window
X-969714 (1926?) - photos indicate double window, but listing claims #X-969714 without showing a photo of the S/N, so this is probably incorrect S/N.
X-1012305 (1926)
X-1179416 (1928)
X-1263938 (1929)
X-1268263 (1929)
X-1349460 (1930)
X-1383939 (1930)
X-1404436 (1930)
SX-1476000 (1931) - TWDB has segment shift starting at #1466500, so this is an early one in the series.
SY-36-112890 (1931+) - Regal job, modified S/N
SX-1544129 (1932)
SX-1566136 (1933)
SX-1570297 (1933)
SX-1588555 (1933)
SX-1599207 (1933)
12-1619607 (1934) - "Jack Davenport Typewriter Co., Bakersfield, CA" decals.
2025-DEC-23, Original Gallery Creation:
I purchased this wide-carriage (14") Royal 10 machine at an antique shop in Washington, GA, on August 29, 1998. It was my third typewriter acquisition of the ones that are still in my collection. The guy running the shop wanted $50, and I talked him down to $40. Unfortunately, this machine was the victim of a lot of early ignorance and foolishness on my part, as I tried to clean it, not knowing quite what I was doing at the time. The decals on the back of the machine are the worse for wear, thanks to my efforts. In 2025, I did purchase a new set of Royal 10 decals for this machine from Paul Robert in the Netherlands.
Also, I got it in my head to remove the carriage for some reason, so that will have to be repaired by a better me, or a better repairman, at some point. I think I lost one of the carriage ball bearings, but fortunately the Royal 10s are abundant enough that I expect I could source replacement parts. With a 14" carriage, this machine is imposing enough, and in good enough condition overall, that I think it's worthy of a complete restoration (hence the decal purchase). I have one other Royal 10, also 1916 but standard carriage, and by somewhat random chance with a serial number (X241543) less than 3000 off from this one. I say "somewhat random chance" because I was at the time looking for a standard carriage early Royal 10 with double beveled windows and pinstriping. The machine posted here needs a lot of cleaning & I can't produce a typing sample at this time, but it appears to be a standard 10 CPI/Pica layout (see photos).
Typeface Specimen:
Links:
- Link to gallery for my standard-carriage 1916 Royal 10, #X241543
- Gallery for Q-X-740335 (1923 Royal 10 "Q") owned by Will Davis, gallery by James Grooms
Photos:
Hunter: Brian Decker (bkdecker66)
Brian Decker's Typewriter Galleries [ My Collection ] [ My Sightings ]
Status: Typewriter Hunter
Points: 3043
My interest in typewriters started in 1997, when I was in graduate school at the University of Georgia. I purchased and read Darryl Rehr's book, joined ETC, and started reaching out to known collectors. I had several email interchanges with Richard Polt dating from that period. I also bought some of my first machines from Bob Aubert, and visited him at his home twice. After marriage and relocation to New England, I continued visiting antique shops and eBay, until other priorities put my typewriter hobby on hiatus around 2008.
In late 2024, I started up again, working on my machines and having some of them serviced professionally by New England Typewriter (NET) LLC (Merrimack, NH), until they closed their doors in December of 2025. Since mid-2025, I have been adding to my collection again, first with a Hermes 3000 purchase from NET, then with various auctions and purchases on eBay, when I find something that catches my eye.
RESEARCH NOTE: When researching the Royal 10 on a computer with lots of screen real estate, you may find that launching the Royal Serial Number page and the Royal 10 By Model/Year/Serial page in new browser windows can give you interesting perspectives on changes throughout the model series.
