1948 Olympia 8 #814500

Status: My Collection
Hunter: Fumitaka Hayashi (fhayashi)
Created: 11-01-2026 at 08:51PM
Last Edit: 11-01-2026 at 08:54PM

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Description:

An Olympia 8.

I was rather excited to receive this after I purchased it from the UK on Ebay. Disappointingly, it was poorly packed, and was damaged in shipping. The worst of the damage was that the cast iron tower holding the margin rack cracked. I have crazy glued it so that it works, but I may attempt a more permanent repair in the future. One of the glass windows is also broken.

The overall look is quite nice. It's mostly glossy black, which shines up rather nicely. It is rather blocky, and the script logo seems much bigger than it should be. I also like the side mount ribbons. Though both sides' ribbon are removable, I had difficulty remounting one of them, as the end-of-ribbon sensing tab gets in the way of easy mounting of the ribbon...

The slugs are marked with a small 12, which is consistent witth the Olympia Pica per Union Foundry's specifications.

The tab system doesn't work. I'm not quite sure what is wrong with it, but as it took enough damage to break off cast iron bits, I would not be surprised if some part of the tab system got broken. Tab set and clear seem to kind of function, but the carriage does not advance when tabbed.

There's also a stiffness to the keys - some of the keys don't make an imprint unless you really strike the key rather hard.

So I have somewhat mixed feelings about this. I really like the looks, but it got damaged, and doesn't work perfectly (likely also due to the damage).

At least I got my money back . Good thing for Ebay buyer protection.
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An Ebay purchase from the UK. Sadly the seller did not know how to pack a typewriter for transatlantic shipping.

Typeface Specimen:

Photos:

Tiny, correct orientation 12, which according to the Union Foundry catalog is Olympia Pica UT17.

Rather handsome profile.

Sadly broken glass.

Snazzy logo.

The feet are in remarkably good shape.

Serial number is frustratingly behind some structure, and difficult to photograph.

Hunter: Fumitaka Hayashi (fhayashi)

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