1937 Erika S #618543/S

Status: Sightings
Hunter: Stanislaus Strodorodofjodoff (Stanislaus)
Created: 04-09-2021 at 12:15PM
Last Edit: 12-23-2025 at 01:40PM

Description Hunter 8 Photos 1 Like  Find on Ebay #AD  Find on Etsy #AD

Description:

I found this recently in the so called Interwebnet at a quite reasonable price. The old lady who sold it told me that she worked as a skilled typewriter mechanic at Robotron (which was in fact a successor of Seidel & Naumann, and also located in Dresden). The condition fits with the price. A little rust here and there. Some blisters in the chrome. It is a very cute little piece with an extraordinary soft key stroke. Obviously it has just a single line spacing. A quick comparision with other Modell S typewriters results in the insight that the machine has single spacing line feed by design. As "Modell S" is the entry level model it is nothing more than a typewriter. The pictures were taken after a quick first cleaning.

As it occurs to me the Modell S typewriters by Erika have been built in a plenty of variations, single line feed, various keyboards/type-sets (this one has fourty three keys) and even surface finishs So, after more than a human life span since manufacturing it might be difficult to find two identical Modell S typewriters.

Recently I gave it away to a friend.

Typeface Specimen:

Photos:

out of the box: a Modell S Erika from 1937

At a first glance the machine looks quite good. Really small even for a travel typewriter. If you take a closer look on the keys you may notice that there is no "1" but a "0". If you now switch to the typeface specimen you may notice, that uppercase O and "0" are identical. So, if there should the uppercase O fall off one of these days I do have a spare O at hand.

Four not to steep rows and remains of the orignal decals .. and it is really flat.

A little worn is the segment and the platen could need some care.

It's a qWERTz keyboard and as you can see WERT is German for VALUE. Overall in very good working condition. The platen looks worn but it works perfectly and the paper feeds easily.

On one hand it looks simple and it has just basic functions. On the other hand it is all but simple. The screws and all sheet metal ...

... as well as the mechanics are well engineered and manufactured for long lasting perfection. The work horse to go – Made in Germany.

Elegancy coupled with zero emission word processing technology including the instant power on feature – created 86 years ago.

Hunter: Stanislaus Strodorodofjodoff (Stanislaus)

Stanislaus Strodorodofjodoff's Typewriter Galleries [ My Collection ] [ My Sightings ]

Status: Typewriter Hunter
Points: 269

A bloke from Germany who used to have a small computers collection to get the history of typing and text processing over periods of time. An S&N Ideal model D was the first in early 80ies. Later to be followed by an IBM Selectric as the step towards digital. Someother devices I used for typing in my professional and personal life, such as a Commodore CBM and Macintosh as well as a VAXstation as well as other things to process characters, were in the collection. The collection was ressolved due to space issues. Today the Selectric, the Ideal D and a Macintosh Classic II are the remains from the past.

Over recent years some other machines have been added which have been constructed to transfer sort of ink by contact with moveable bars which comprehends a set of letters to make any kind of writing occur magically on an empty sheet of paper. Recently an Erika S with a rare Fraktur typeface joined the party.

Please enjoy my galleries!!

I am also looking for stuff, well stuff that anyone wants to collect: special typefonts (olde German), IBM printing elements for the 88 character machine, Mignon type cylinders and pointer-plates, mint condition Smith-Coronas ...