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196X Smith Corona Electra 120 Serial # 6LEV-354701 196X Smith Corona Electra 120 typewriter, Serial # 6LEV-354701 Christopher Bailey's 196X Smith Corona Electra 120 typewriter. 2023-04-25 From the Virtual Typewriter Collection of Christopher Bailey: 196X Smith Corona Electra 120 Serial # 6LEV-354701 I don’t go looking for electric typewriters. But this one was in a thrift store yesterday marked $10, and it brought back memories of the very similar Sears typewriter my father had when I was growing up. I plugged it in and turned it on, and it made that same low rumbling purr I remembered. Everything seemed to work flawlessly, so I brought it home and gave it a new ribbon, and you can see the results. Pica type.

To judge by the serial numbers of other Electra 120s in the galleries, this may be from either 1969 or 1970.

196X Smith Corona Electra 120 #6LEV-354701

Status: My Collection
Hunter: Christopher Bailey (cbaile19)
Created: 04-25-2023 at 01:08PM
Last Edit: 04-25-2023 at 03:41PM

Description Hunter 10 Photos 1 Like  Find on Ebay #AD  Find on Etsy #AD

Description:

I don’t go looking for electric typewriters. But this one was in a thrift store yesterday marked $10, and it brought back memories of the very similar Sears typewriter my father had when I was growing up. I plugged it in and turned it on, and it made that same low rumbling purr I remembered. Everything seemed to work flawlessly, so I brought it home and gave it a new ribbon, and you can see the results. Pica type.

To judge by the serial numbers of other Electra 120s in the galleries, this may be from either 1969 or 1970.

Typeface Specimen:

Photos:

The keys and the plastic surrounding them have yellowed noticeably. I could try to bleach them, but instead I’ve decided to call the yellowing “patina.”
The keys and the plastic surrounding them have yellowed noticeably. I could try to bleach them, but instead I’ve decided to call the yellowing “patina.”

That glowing orange light means we’re ready to get typing.
That glowing orange light means we’re ready to get typing.


The hood slides toward you.
The hood slides toward you.

Look at all those vintage eraser crumbs! That’s patina too, isn’t it?
Look at all those vintage eraser crumbs! That’s patina too, isn’t it?


The price tag. Every price in this thrift store ends with “.99.”
The price tag. Every price in this thrift store ends with “.99.”



The case.
The case.

Hunter: Christopher Bailey (cbaile19)

Christopher Bailey's Typewriter Galleries [ My Collection ] [ My Sightings ]

Status: Typewriter Hunter
Points: 844

I’m a writer who often writes with a typewriter to get away from the computer for a while. I think I became a typewriter collector when I bought my typewriters some industrial-grade wheeled steel shelving from a restaurant supply house. Before that I was just an accumulator, but now I’ve spent more on shelves than on all the typewriters put together. (They were all cheap.)

I have steel pens, too, which I also write with regularly. Both collections started at the same moment in 1990, at the liquidation of the head offices of the old G. C. Murphy five-and-dime chain, where I bought a Woodstock typewriter, two gross of Esterbrook Jackson Stub pens, and three bottles of Carter’s green ink.


RESEARCH NOTE: When researching the Smith Corona Electra 120 on a computer with lots of screen real estate, you may find that launching the Smith Corona Serial Number page and the Smith Corona Electra 120 By Model/Year/Serial page in new browser windows can give you interesting perspectives on changes throughout the model series.

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