1939 Erika M #842012/M

Status: My Collection
Hunter: Stanislaus Strodorodofjodoff (Stanislaus)
Created: 10-17-2026 at 07:16AM
Last Edit: 10-27-2026 at 07:07AM

Description Hunter 7 Photos 1 Like  Find on Ebay #AD  Find on Etsy #AD

Description:

Look what the cat dragged in.
An Erika M .. and as you know this means Masterclass or as we Zshermenn say Meisterklasse.

Found it in the internet as shown. This machine types very easy, light key stroke. This is a result of the S&N parallel lever system which not just keeps the keycaps levelled parallel but also distributed force much more even from finger to platen. Remarks to the typeface see gallery remarks below.

I must confess that I am quite happe with this find. Together with the Erika S an her Fraktur font these two machines represents all you need. The M has automatical double spacing, magic margin settings and four settings for line feed. The S has no paper support and not even double line feed. Combined the are the essentials of mechanical portable typewriters.

Of course you may take the Erika 20 as a larger version of the M including correcting space key. Of course you can take into account big, fast, easy typing office typewriters with a lever for paper in-feed to an always exactly same position. Of course you can take into account the speed and easyness of an IBM Selectric. In the end, the Erika S, the Erika M, and yes the Erika 10 too, are my equipment for daily writing.

Typeface Specimen:

Photos:

My first Erika M :-D

Almost no wear on this decal.

Shiny row.

Did I mention that the decal is in very good condition?

Even on the back the decal show a good status of preservation. Also, the chrome parts don't show acne.

See the window (left arrow) for the platen to be moved for uppercase letters. That is nice because you do not have to lift the whole carriage but just the platen and the paper support. The right arrow show the carriage lock for transport at your place. (Shipping transport locks are lost.) Guide the carriage to a mostly middle position, move this lever away from you and adjust the carriage 'til it locks. Done in an instant. Safe for storing.

The typeface is a very nice one quite slim and spacing about 11.2 chars per inch. So this might be already that Perl font used with the Erika 10. Character design is typical pre WW II. It changed a lot as you can see on my Erika 10 or Erika 20.

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 ...