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1949 Smith Corona Sterling Serial # 5A221784 1949 Smith Corona Sterling typewriter, Serial # 5A221784 Jeff Hershauer's 1949 Smith Corona Sterling typewriter. 2020-09-13 From the Virtual Typewriter Collection of Jeff Hershauer: 1949 Smith Corona Sterling Serial # 5A221784 This one was my gateway back into typewriters for the first time since about 9th grade in the '80s. After missing out on an Olympia SM3 that only stayed up on CL for a few hours, I found this one on Facebook Marketplace. It looked clean, and was owned by a gentleman who had bought it for his self-run business "back in the day". Other than some cleaning of the segment and type bars, it only needed a very slight adjustment of escapement, as it was waiting until the keys were too close to the paper to advance, causing an occasional extra space. That problem is gone.

I actually bought another 1949 typewriter later. A "Silent" model, because I thought it would be cool to have the same exact model that was in the initial 1949/1950 ads for the 5 Series. Well, even after adjustments, that Silent just didn't feel as tight as this one. So i kept the Holiday case from that one and sold it for what I had paid. Now that I've tried quite a few other typewriters, I have a hard time imagining getting rid of this one. It just feels right.

Images coming soon...

1949 Smith Corona Sterling #5A221784

Status: My Collection
Hunter: Jeff Hershauer (ScotchHobbyist)
Created: 09-12-2020 at 12:39AM
Last Edit: 09-13-2020 at 10:10PM


Description:

This one was my gateway back into typewriters for the first time since about 9th grade in the '80s. After missing out on an Olympia SM3 that only stayed up on CL for a few hours, I found this one on Facebook Marketplace. It looked clean, and was owned by a gentleman who had bought it for his self-run business "back in the day". Other than some cleaning of the segment and type bars, it only needed a very slight adjustment of escapement, as it was waiting until the keys were too close to the paper to advance, causing an occasional extra space. That problem is gone.

I actually bought another 1949 typewriter later. A "Silent" model, because I thought it would be cool to have the same exact model that was in the initial 1949/1950 ads for the 5 Series. Well, even after adjustments, that Silent just didn't feel as tight as this one. So i kept the Holiday case from that one and sold it for what I had paid. Now that I've tried quite a few other typewriters, I have a hard time imagining getting rid of this one. It just feels right.

Images coming soon...

Typeface Specimen:

Hunter: Jeff Hershauer (ScotchHobbyist)

Jeff Hershauer's Typewriter Galleries [ My Collection ] [ My Sightings ]

Status: Typewriter Hunter
Points: 43

Having jumped back on the "analog" bandwagon with vinyl records and film cameras, I suppose typewriters was a natural next step. :-)

I bought a 1949 Smith Corona Sterling in great shape, thinking it would be my only typewriter. Next thing I know, I'm in "hunter" mode and I have several more machines that I have cleaned up. I'm in the Phoenix, AZ metro area.



RESEARCH NOTE: When researching the Smith Corona Sterling on a computer with lots of screen real estate, you may find that launching the Smith Corona Serial Number page and the Smith Corona Sterling By Model/Year/Serial page in new browser windows can give you interesting perspectives on changes throughout the model series.