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196x Smith Corona Galaxie Deluxe Serial # 6T2V-196918 196x Smith Corona Galaxie Deluxe typewriter, Serial # 6T2V-196918 Steven Blake's 196x Smith Corona Galaxie Deluxe typewriter. 2022-02-10 From the Virtual Typewriter Collection of Steven Blake: 196x Smith Corona Galaxie Deluxe Serial # 6T2V-196918 As so many before me have noted, these mid-20th Century Smith-Corona portable typewriters were a popular choice for the home/student buyer based on their combination of almost bulletproof design, ease of use and maintenance, plus middle-class budget-friendly pricing. SCM certainly knew who it was marketing to, and the company succeeded in building a valuable brand that stood out among the American typewriter manufacturers.

This nice Galaxie Deluxe was manufactured in the late 1960s and features a ten-inch carriage, the SCM exclusive “Power Space” key, and a mono-color ribbon selector (actually, you can’t “select” any color other than the one on the installed ribbon). Of course, the single-color ribbon is an important visual clue to typewriter enthusiasts everywhere as it typically identifies a machine with a typeface that has characters larger than the width of one of the colors in a bi-color ribbon (hence the single-color only option). This Galaxie Deluxe is no less typical as it sports SCM’s Artistic (No. 75) typeface with its swooping, curvy letters and the oversized capitals like “C” and “E.”

All of the global typewriter manufacturers offered their customers some version of the Artistic typeface, which is often more generically referred to among enthusiasts as “script.” Meant to mimic handwriting, machines that type in script generally sell for a premium today, and yet it’s hard to gauge who precisely was buying script typewriters back in the day. And more importantly, what were they primarily using these script machines for? Of course, we can guess who the usual buyers might have been, thanks in no small part to some of the era’s common gender stereotypes. Still, it’s hard to imagine sending a manuscript into a book publisher, a screenplay to a Hollywood producer, or turning in a college term paper, typed in Artistic No. 75.

196x Smith Corona Galaxie Deluxe #6T2V-196918

Status: My Collection
Hunter: Steven Blake (FloydGondolli)
Created: 02-09-2022 at 05:50PM
Last Edit: 02-10-2022 at 10:07AM


Description:

As so many before me have noted, these mid-20th Century Smith-Corona portable typewriters were a popular choice for the home/student buyer based on their combination of almost bulletproof design, ease of use and maintenance, plus middle-class budget-friendly pricing. SCM certainly knew who it was marketing to, and the company succeeded in building a valuable brand that stood out among the American typewriter manufacturers.

This nice Galaxie Deluxe was manufactured in the late 1960s and features a ten-inch carriage, the SCM exclusive “Power Space” key, and a mono-color ribbon selector (actually, you can’t “select” any color other than the one on the installed ribbon). Of course, the single-color ribbon is an important visual clue to typewriter enthusiasts everywhere as it typically identifies a machine with a typeface that has characters larger than the width of one of the colors in a bi-color ribbon (hence the single-color only option). This Galaxie Deluxe is no less typical as it sports SCM’s Artistic (No. 75) typeface with its swooping, curvy letters and the oversized capitals like “C” and “E.”

All of the global typewriter manufacturers offered their customers some version of the Artistic typeface, which is often more generically referred to among enthusiasts as “script.” Meant to mimic handwriting, machines that type in script generally sell for a premium today, and yet it’s hard to gauge who precisely was buying script typewriters back in the day. And more importantly, what were they primarily using these script machines for? Of course, we can guess who the usual buyers might have been, thanks in no small part to some of the era’s common gender stereotypes. Still, it’s hard to imagine sending a manuscript into a book publisher, a screenplay to a Hollywood producer, or turning in a college term paper, typed in Artistic No. 75.

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Hunter: Steven Blake (FloydGondolli)

Steven Blake's Typewriter Galleries [ My Collection ] [ My Sightings ]

Status: Typewriter Hunter
Points: 492

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