Another nice flat-top design.
It's in pretty good condition for its age. No deep scratches.
The obligatory profile shot. Looks more like some kind of steam-punk era locomotive.
Hooking a finger across this carriage return lever took a little getting used to.
The keys are pretty clean and even.
Now all I should do is get it serviced, not that it really needs it, and maybe hunt up some spare spools for it, since I've noticed that they are slightly smaller than those found on other typers. I'll take another crack at rubber banding the underside of the space bar too.
All in all, it's a nice typewriter to use, although a little clunky, but then all of my other ones from the '30s appear to feel the same. Still, it's rock-solid. Easy to understand the "dropped from aeroplane via parachute to dealers" stunt that Royal pulled back in the '20s. Now that's marketing!
Thanks for reading, all!
And P.S.- if anybody can give me a more accurate date of production on this, that'd be great!
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Special Thanks to Ted for giving me the production year of this typewriter. Nineteen twenty-eight suits me just fine. Thanks again, sir!
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Congratulations, impressive score! Especially love the color and the mottled texture. So this is the replacement for the Remington Portable you sold.
ReplyDeleteMy NOMDA list for royal portables puts P 56530 in very early 1928 (it lists the first serial number of that production year as 56500). "P" apparently stands for "no model name", BTW :D
ReplyDelete@ i dream lo-tech, I wasn't planning on replacing the Remington because I figured I had enough typewriters from the 1930s, but when I saw (and missed out on) a green Royal Portable on eBay a few months ago, I decided to keep an eye out for another with a cool paint job. This one's gotta be it, though. The collection's gotten out of hand!
ReplyDelete@ Ted, a HUGE THANKS(!) for the production year info. Nineteen Twenty-eight, huh? Beautiful!
Ted beat me to it. It's a prettier-colored version of mine, seen here:
ReplyDeletehttp://manualentry.blogspot.com/2011/06/royal-portable.html
very nice score!
Teeritz, "This one's gotte be it, though"- yeah, right. ( :
ReplyDeleteLots of character on this one! Nice.
ReplyDeleteTry getting some self-adhesive felt at a craft/hobby store. You can snip off a bit and stick it to the relevant bits of the space bar to quiet it down.
Reminds me of my Woody. Surprised it is 10 years younger - maybe I let a typo slip in so I'll rush off to check. I like the green and blue ones they did too - must've been fun to be in the paintshop watching the finishes develop. Each one must be unique.
ReplyDeleteRob, according to NOMDA numbers, your "Woody" S/N P184573 is 1930, not 1938. If you have corroborating evidence for either date, let me know, please (bill of sale, manual with publishing date, etc.), since I'm attempting to determine which serial number list I have access to is most accurate for Royal, so I can publish a more accurate list.
ReplyDeleteA blue one just made its way to my house!
ReplyDeleteHey, congrats, Nat! Hang on to that one. I don't see many of them come up for sale very often. And my one types quite nicely for a machine that's 84 years old.
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