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1968 Royal (Silver-Seiko) 200 Serial # MC 8284192 1968 Royal (Silver-Seiko) 200 typewriter, Serial # MC 8284192 Jonathan Crowe's 1968 Royal (Silver-Seiko) 200 typewriter. 2025-02-24 From the Virtual Typewriter Collection of Jonathan Crowe: 1968 Royal (Silver-Seiko) 200 Serial # MC 8284192 Elite typeface. Acquired December 2020 via eBay auction. Nice condition and alignment.

In December 2020 I won an eBay auction for a 1968 Royal 200. With shipping, the typewriter came to a grand total of C$63.87. It was an ultraportable made in Japan by Silver-Seiko and sold under the venerable Royal brand; the 200 appears identical to the better-known Mercury. Our example turned out to be surprisingly good, not just for what it was—a cheap, small typewriter—but full stop: it types better and faster than many ostensibly superior machines, and despite some yellowed plastic it remains in terrific shape. But while its platen and sound insulation could stand replacing, I wondered whether it was worth spending money upgrading such a cheap typewriter: the expense would not necessarily be recouped if we decided to sell the thing on. Meanwhile, the typewriter blogger Joe Van Cleave went and did to his Royal Mercury what I was simply musing about: he replaced the platen and installed a sound insulation kit, with good results. He clearly intends to keep using his, and at this point I think I’m likely to do the same with mine. Resale value should be a moot point in this context. In a way it’s too bad that it’s no longer quite as silly to get J. J. Short to recover its platen, now that Joe’s broken this ground. I liked the idea of doing something silly. [7 May 2022]

1968 Royal (Silver-Seiko) 200 #MC 8284192

Status: My Collection
Hunter: Jonathan Crowe (mcwetboy)
Created: 03-22-2021 at 06:15AM
Last Edit: 02-24-2025 at 03:50PM

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Description:

Elite typeface. Acquired December 2020 via eBay auction. Nice condition and alignment.

In December 2020 I won an eBay auction for a 1968 Royal 200. With shipping, the typewriter came to a grand total of C$63.87. It was an ultraportable made in Japan by Silver-Seiko and sold under the venerable Royal brand; the 200 appears identical to the better-known Mercury. Our example turned out to be surprisingly good, not just for what it was—a cheap, small typewriter—but full stop: it types better and faster than many ostensibly superior machines, and despite some yellowed plastic it remains in terrific shape. But while its platen and sound insulation could stand replacing, I wondered whether it was worth spending money upgrading such a cheap typewriter: the expense would not necessarily be recouped if we decided to sell the thing on. Meanwhile, the typewriter blogger Joe Van Cleave went and did to his Royal Mercury what I was simply musing about: he replaced the platen and installed a sound insulation kit, with good results. He clearly intends to keep using his, and at this point I think I’m likely to do the same with mine. Resale value should be a moot point in this context. In a way it’s too bad that it’s no longer quite as silly to get J. J. Short to recover its platen, now that Joe’s broken this ground. I liked the idea of doing something silly. [7 May 2022]

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Hunter: Jonathan Crowe (mcwetboy)

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Jonathan Crowe blogs about maps at The Map Room and writes about science fiction and fantasy; his work has been published by AE, The New York Review of Science Fiction, Strange Horizons and Tor.com. He lives in Shawville, Quebec.


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