1968 Royal (Silver-Seiko) Mercury #MC 8184780

Status: My Collection
Hunter: Plante and Doole-Fisher Typewriters (venneburgtypewriters)
Created: 03-20-2019 at 07:12PM
Last Edit: 08-13-2022 at 10:51PM

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Description:

The Royal Mercury is yet another name in a very long list of many Silver-Seiko variants that were available at this time. The Silver-Seiko Ltd. Co. in Japan at the time manufactured typewriters in parallel to the production line of Nakajima which both produced for Litton Royal during the 1960's and 1970's. Silver-Seiko ultraportables ranged from many different names, to colours and body-styles that were all manufactured during the same period in time. The Royal Mercury was also frequently labeled as the Royal Tab-O-Matic, Royal (Imperial) 200, Silver-Reed (various models), Eaton 400 (In Canada), etc. The typewriters consisted mainly of a simple but durable mechanism which consisted of a tilt-away carriage-shift, angular key-action, and the basic mechanical amenities you would expect to find on a portable typewriter. Silver-Seiko also manufactured various aesthetically differing typewriters, which were mechanically identical to the Mercury style, but differed in appearance. In general, many typewriters of this typewriter manufactured, and all in all, although amongst specialists and enthusiasts these typewriters are considered to be a low-end and shameful typewriter, I personally have found great pleasure in using all of the equivalents that I have come across. This particular Royal Mercury is in very good condition, and didn't appear to suffer from the rather signature-rust that Silver-Seikos tend to suffer from due to cheap building materials. The cover does have a dent that sadly, without causing more significant damage in attempting to reducing, will remained scarred in it's current form. However, as far as I could tell that was the only notable damage that this typewriter suffered from. The rubber grommets that hold the cover onto the shell had dried and disintegrated, so I resorted to acquired a couple of slightly larger equivalents and installed those, which, along with some heat-shrink motivation on the pins, stuck on quite solidly. In conclusion, this Royal Mercury is another affirmation of my desire for these typewriters.

~ Dirk

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Hunter: Plante and Doole-Fisher Typewriters (venneburgtypewriters)

Plante and Doole-Fisher Typewriters's Typewriter Galleries [ My Collection ] [ My Sightings ]

Status: Typewriter Hunter
Points: 2509

This gallery represents the machines owned by good friends Dirk Plante and Sean Doole, who reside in British Columbia, Canada. Together they have established Venneburg Typewriters, a partnership that to date has seen over 400 typewriters since 2009. Here you will find the machines that are currently still in possession or that have come and gone since December 2017.

***As of July 2020, this collection now also represents pieces from the collection of Troy Krahn!