1922 Underwood 5 #1590029

Status: My Collection
Hunter: Brian Decker (bkdecker66)
Created: 11-16-2025 at 12:54PM
Last Edit: 02-15-2026 at 10:29AM

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Description:

2026-02-15 Update: Added a photo of the serial number stamped on the front left foot, #2032833, as compared to the top serial number of 1590029. Added detail photos of the type slugs, showing that all of the slugs are "UP" pica, except for the "E" key, which is either “DG” or “PG” (can’t tell which) for Gothic. That explains the "unusual" typeface, but it does not explain why someone chose to replace the "E" key with this typeface; was it really just because that's all they had on hand at the time, or was it a deliberate style choice for some purpose?

2025-11-16 Gallery Creation: This Underwood Model 5 has an unusual typeface (see attached samples); I do not know what it is called, but it is 10-pitch, so maybe in the Pica family. I purchased it for $40 at Treasures Antiques & Collectibles in Amherst, NH, on 3/29/2008. This was one of the last two typewriters I purchased, both on 3/29/08, before I stopped collecting for 17.5 years, until November 2025, when I bought a Hermes 3000 (see linked gallery). The other typewriter I found on 3/29/08 was my Corona Four, #2K13611 (see linked gallery).

Apart from a new set of feet, it has not yet been restored. Many years after purchase, I finally typed a sample on it, and realized it has an unusual typeface Both upper-case and lower case "E" are sans serif and modern-looking. The lower-case "d" has a very compact belly. The rest of the keys look relatively ordinary to me. I thought this was probably a one-off, where someone in the past wanted a unique look, or was hard up to replace their "E" key and all-caps was all they had available. However, when I visited Matt Snyder at New England Typewriter LLC on 11-14-25, he told me that he had actually seen this before: an Underwood 5 with just the "E" key in all-caps typeface! A customer had come in with such a machine, asking if Matt could replace that oddball "E" key, which he didn't do. Perhaps there was a business at one time that used this keyset for a distinctive style?

Typeface Specimen:

Links:

• Link to my Hermes 3000 gallery, the next machine I purchased 17.5 years later!
• Link to gallery for the Corona 4 that I bought on the same day as this Underwood!

Photos:

Right quadrant.

Right.

Serial number.

Back.

Patent dates.

Left rear quadrant.

Left.

Left quadrant.

Paper table detail.

Sales receipt.

Typing sample.

Foot serial number, #2032833. Compare to the top S/N of 1590029.

Paper table left point-of-view.

Underwood decal, closeup.

Type slug detail, left.

Type slug detail, center.

Type slug detail, focused on the Double Gothic "E" foundry mark.

Type slug detail, right.

Hunter: Brian Decker (bkdecker66)

Brian Decker's Typewriter Galleries [ My Collection ] [ My Sightings ]

Status: Typewriter Hunter
Points: 1735

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. I still have my collection of around 57 machines, and now I have a renewed interest in getting some of them in good working and cosmetic order.