1939 Continental Standard #853928-1
Status: My Collection
Hunter: Mark Schrad (MLSchrad)
Created: 06-07-2024 at 04:34PM
Last Edit: 06-07-2024 at 04:35PM
![1939 #853928-1](https://typewriterdatabase.com/img/g_continenta_23148_1717803280.jpg)
Description:
I got this Continental Standard in June, 2024, as part of a lot of typewriters purchased from fellow typewriter enthusiast Sheryl Oring, Dean of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. In terms of provenance, apparently Dr. Oring was in Europe building her sculptural installation called "Writer's Block," in which typewriters are encased in cubes of rusty metal rebar, to symbolize the denial of the writer's tools through Nazi-era censorship. http://www.sheryloring.org/writers-block To make the art installation, she needed a great many old typewriters, many of which she got from a gentleman in Italy who had some 600 typewriters, but the roof of the building where he was storing them collapsed. Apparently these were among those German typewriters, hoarded in Italy, and then returned to Germany as part of an art display, from whence it traveled Europe and the United States, winding up at UArts in Philadelphia... and now on to me.
Of the machines in the deal, this one was in perhaps the worst condition, with broken levers and shoulder screws, and only when I got it home did I recognize that the word "Reichseigentum" was stamped on the side: Property of the [Third] Reich... which presents something of a moral conundrum.
Typeface Specimen:
![](https://typewriterdatabase.com/images/type-not-entered.jpg)
Photos:
![](https://typewriterdatabase.com/img/g23148_169685_1717803305.jpeg)
![](https://typewriterdatabase.com/img/g23148_169686_1717803306.jpeg)
![](https://typewriterdatabase.com/img/g23148_169687_1717803307.jpeg)
![](https://typewriterdatabase.com/img/g23148_169688_1717803308.jpeg)
![](https://typewriterdatabase.com/img/g23148_169689_1717803309.jpeg)
![](https://typewriterdatabase.com/img/g23148_169690_1717803310.jpeg)
![](https://typewriterdatabase.com/img/g23148_169691_1717803311.jpeg)
Hunter: Mark Schrad (MLSchrad)
Mark Schrad's Typewriter Galleries [ My Collection ] [ My Sightings ]
![](https://typewriterdatabase.com/img/member_5453_1607574280.jpg)
Status: Typewriter Hunter
Points: 27802
Professor of Political Science and Director of Russian Area Studies at Villanova University. Writes about alcohol politics, Russia, and international law when not refurbishing old typewriters.
RESEARCH NOTE: When researching the Continental Standard on a computer with lots of screen real estate, you may find that launching the Continental Serial Number page and the Continental Standard By Model/Year/Serial page in new browser windows can give you interesting perspectives on changes throughout the model series.