1928 Remington Porto-Rite #SR5062
Status: My Collection
Hunter: Brian Decker (bkdecker66)
Created: 05-10-2026 at 07:15PM
Last Edit: 05-16-2026 at 01:35PM
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Description:
2026-MAY-16 Update. I picked up the Porto-Rite at the post office yesterday. SR5062 is the earliest Porto-Rite serial number known to me, and also to the seller, "fairfaxoldstuff" on eBay. This machine will need a lot of work to become a regular typer, but I was able to create a typing sample using the installed ribbon. It has an Elite typeface. The Remington shield decal on the left of the top panel has an "Augusta GA" label, and the case has two Emory University decals; so I would suppose this belonged to a student at Emory almost a century ago.
I have updated the gallery with images that I took, and I have also left the original eBay listing images.
2026-MAY-10, Gallery Creation. The same eBay seller who listed a couple Remington Portable 1st generation machines from May 1921 recently (see linked gallery for my specimen, #NX13194) has just today listed this very early Remington Porto-Rite. In our messaging chat on eBay, he told me that he has only seen two or three machines with lower serial numbers. I asked him a follow-up question about that, specifically whether he has seen any examples with a serial number lower than SR5000; I'll post his reply when I get it.
I went ahead and hit "Buy It Now" on this machine to secure it. Sale price was $125, with $12.71 shipping to me. I'll post my own photos of the machine when I get it. This is now the Porto-Rite with the lowest serial # in TWDB, and lower than SR5145, which is the lowest serial number that Richard Polt has seen, per his Remington Portables article on his Classic Typewriter page. I have set the Year of Manufacture to 1928 to reflect this so that it shows up first on the list. I have no idea whether 1928 was the actual year of manufacture, because the serial number history for Porto-Rites seems to be in a bit of disarray. Looks like a job for Will Davis, if he's up to it!
Typeface Specimen:
Links:
- May 1921 Rem Portable purchased from eBay seller "fairfaxoldstuff"
- December 1920 Rem Portable purchased from eBay seller "fairfaxoldstuff"
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 Remington Porto-Rite on a computer with lots of screen real estate, you may find that launching the Remington Serial Number page and the Remington Porto-Rite By Model/Year/Serial page in new browser windows can give you interesting perspectives on changes throughout the model series.
