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1963 Montgomery Ward Signature 500 Serial # 5706111 1963 Montgomery Ward Signature 500 typewriter, Serial # 5706111 Steven Blake's 1963 Montgomery Ward Signature 500 typewriter. 2022-01-07 From the Virtual Typewriter Collection of Steven Blake: 1963 Montgomery Ward Signature 500 Serial # 5706111 "For those who choose to give the best...our very finest portable typewriter" was how Ward's pitched the Signature 500 in their 1963 Christmas Catalog (link and photo below). A private-labeled version of the popular Royal Sahara/Safari, the 500 was sold by Montgomery Ward for one year only. By 1964, Royal was out, to be replaced by Brother as Ward's manufacturing partner (see the 1964 Wards Fall/Winter Catalog link below). Note: Ward's sold a Safari/Sahara knock-off in 1962 as well, but it was branded as the "Heritage 500" and featured the Royal logo prominently in the ad copy and on the typewriter's ribbon cover.

Here is an example of the 2-tone "Sand with Dusty Beige front" color scheme. This machine was optioned with the rather unusual "Executive" typeface, a $5.00 up-charge (the others being Pica, Elite, Graphic Elite, and Script). It's an odd typeface: sort of an italicized double Gothic with serifs. It's hard to imagine many executives finding it appropriate for typical business correspondence.

1963 Montgomery Ward Signature 500 #5706111

Status: My Collection
Hunter: Steven Blake (FloydGondolli)
Created: 01-06-2022 at 10:42PM
Last Edit: 01-07-2022 at 09:16AM

Description Hunter 12 Photos 1 Like  Find on Ebay #AD  Find on Etsy #AD

Description:

"For those who choose to give the best...our very finest portable typewriter" was how Ward's pitched the Signature 500 in their 1963 Christmas Catalog (link and photo below). A private-labeled version of the popular Royal Sahara/Safari, the 500 was sold by Montgomery Ward for one year only. By 1964, Royal was out, to be replaced by Brother as Ward's manufacturing partner (see the 1964 Wards Fall/Winter Catalog link below). Note: Ward's sold a Safari/Sahara knock-off in 1962 as well, but it was branded as the "Heritage 500" and featured the Royal logo prominently in the ad copy and on the typewriter's ribbon cover.

Here is an example of the 2-tone "Sand with Dusty Beige front" color scheme. This machine was optioned with the rather unusual "Executive" typeface, a $5.00 up-charge (the others being Pica, Elite, Graphic Elite, and Script). It's an odd typeface: sort of an italicized double Gothic with serifs. It's hard to imagine many executives finding it appropriate for typical business correspondence.

Typeface Specimen:

Links:

Photos:






The Signature 500's case, with a "500" face plate in place of the "Royal" logo.
The Signature 500's case, with a "500" face plate in place of the "Royal" logo.

From the MW 1963 Christmas Catalog: these were the typefaces offered.
From the MW 1963 Christmas Catalog: these were the typefaces offered.

From the Montgomery Ward 1963 Christmas Catalog
From the Montgomery Ward 1963 Christmas Catalog





Hunter: Steven Blake (FloydGondolli)

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Lawyer and recently acknowledged typewriter addict. It all started with an IBM Personal Typewriter, followed by a Smith-Corona Galaxie Deluxe, an Adler Universal 20, and then, well, you know the rest.


RESEARCH NOTE: When researching the Montgomery Ward Signature 500 on a computer with lots of screen real estate, you may find that launching the Montgomery Ward Serial Number page and the Montgomery Ward Signature 500 By Model/Year/Serial page in new browser windows can give you interesting perspectives on changes throughout the model series.

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