1971 Olympia SM9 #4193437

Status: My Collection
Hunter: Paul Seitz (pstype)
Created: 07-25-2018 at 05:12PM
Last Edit: 08-01-2018 at 11:37AM

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Description:

I recently bought this Olympia SM9 - for $40 including shipping, which was a lot for me. But, having read the many testimonials to these wonderful machines, I was hoping this one would live up to my high expectations and become as reliable and refined as my long lost Hermes 3000 had been.

Uncharacteristically, I posted here on the day I received the typewriter, prior to any cleaning, and after only a cursory typing session. I did that because I was so impressed with how beautifully it worked right out of the box - eraser dust, paper decals, existing ribbon, and all. I wrote that I was feeling hopeful. I'm now updating with some new photos, after a good start on cleaning inside and out, and after some extended typing.

In general, my early hopes are being realized. It's a beautiful machine, and the copy looks almost too good to have been typed which feels a little odd; I've not seen such typed copy for a long time. On the other hand, I also discovered the slightly bent piece that causes the individual tab clear to JUST fail and I'll fix that when I figure out what kind of tool to use (and not before). Meanwhile, the tab set and the "all tab clear" work fine, and will serve for now.

While cleaning, I also discovered a small cardboard tag, still attached with string to the right space bar, identifying the font as "Modern Pica 67," an interesting font that I like very much. I wonder if that tag was attached in the store that first sold the machine and has remained attached for all these years.

Typeface Specimen:

Photos:

Hunter: Paul Seitz (pstype)

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Status: Typewriter Hunter
Points: 234

After too many rapid cross country moves, I realized suddenly that my c. 1964 Hermes 3000 was missing - lost or stolen at some point in a move. I'd bought that machine new from a shop as I entered high school, did all my homework on it, typed all my college research papers and my Master's thesis on it, but gradually used it less and less over the years. Still, the sudden realization that it was gone felt like a really significant loss, which puzzled me. Wondering why I was so moved by the loss of something I hadn't actually used in years, I began to get more and more interested in typewriters and the many layers of stories each seems to accumulate. I started to learn a little - just enough to have a chance to find some good machines that I can afford, as I gradually try to understand the (apparently, important) place of the typewriter in my soul.