1962 Underwood Touchmaster Five #H-9032558
Status: My Collection
Hunter: King Corduroy (KingCorduroy)
Created: 02-18-2016 at 12:20AM
Last Edit: 02-21-2016 at 12:42AM
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Description:
For a while now I had been drooling over one of these on Craigslist but was unwilling to drive the distance required to go get it. So by chance today on the way back home from college (02-17-2016) I happened to stop in at a fairly new antique mall that had opened in my home town.
After wandering through the place I was about to leave when I muttered "junk, just junk" under my breath or so I'd thought when a booth owner that was organizing her things asked me if I was looking for anything in particular and I turned around to face her and was about to say no when I saw she had this Underwood sitting right on the table in front of her and so I walked up unbelieving, touched the keys and said "Yes, yes I'm looking for this exactly actually. Typewriters I mean... but I'd been looking for one of these". However I quickly noted it was marked 50$ and she must have seen the disappointment in my face because she quickly said that it was half off and even knocked off another five because it had a few cosmetic defects such as the name Brady scratched into it's surface in various places.
So of course I bought it and dragged it home, my father was there and saw me carry it in so he asked about it and I showed him. When I mentioned the name scratched on the surface he about fell off his chair! Turns out that he had a typing teacher in High School that he didn't get along with named Mr. Brady! It's probably just co-incidence though because there didn't seem to be any inventory stickers like a High School or government type place would stick on a machine like this. The only thing I did find was a curious sticker with the numbers 2-16-34 written on it under the left ribbon cover. I assume it's probably a combo for a lock that someone hid there but I suppose it might be an inventory number, so who knows maybe there is a connection. After all we only now live 40 minutes away from the town he went to H.S. in.
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Hunter: King Corduroy (KingCorduroy)
King Corduroy's Typewriter Galleries [ My Collection ] [ My Sightings ]
Status: Typewriter Hunter
Points: 184
I am a mechanical engineering student with a fascination for antiques, I bought my first typewriter when I was in 6th or 7th grade. It was a very beat-up and dejected Remington Noiseless Model 7 and it only cost me 5$ since I was the only one at the auction interested in it. Since then I have sold it (and happen to know it is sitting in an antique shop) but my love for typewriters has never waned.
Since then my interests have spread to vintage computers and other electronics and I have obtained many interesting things. I now own 3 typewriters, but I am always looking for more and those sleek portables of the 1940's and 50's always catch my eye.
RESEARCH NOTE: When researching the Underwood Touchmaster Five on a computer with lots of screen real estate, you may find that launching the Underwood Serial Number page and the Underwood Touchmaster Five By Model/Year/Serial page in new browser windows can give you interesting perspectives on changes throughout the model series.
