I am not actively adding to my typewriter collection. But sometimes, you know … a machine comes across my path that wants to be saved. I scoop it up, take it along with me, and mostly plan to rehouse it with someone who needs it more. But, sometimes, it is one I decide to keep.
So You Want to Buy a Typewriter?—a Paperblogging post that has surprised me by getting hourly traffic worldwide for several years—advocates looking for local typewriters on Facebook Marketplace, among several sources. I still see tremendous machines there, but less so, and they are far more expensive. Consignment antique shops have yielded the best results recently. Shops that know little about typewriters.
A valuable Olympia SM9—possibly the best-engineered typewriter ever made—sold for the same low price as a plastic 70s machine from Japan with some of the keys already pilfered. That was what I found this summer at a popular consignment store west of Boston that specializes in furniture. I was on my way home from dropping off my daughter for a sleepover and felt the pull to stop in and browse.
A skip of the heart—an SM9!
Why was it an SM9, not the SM8 model? It had a touch control setting [20, in the image below]. Also, on either side of the spacebar, buttons to set the machine’s tabs [23].
But nothing on this SM9 moved: keys, space bar, carriage. The machine had sat there for weeks with its workings seemingly broken, to the casual shopper who tried the keys. So long in fact that the lower ticket price had kicked in that morning.
The carriage lock [1] that secures the typewriter for transport, was in place. I flicked the lock and the keys released, the carriage moved, and the bell dinged with a satisfying tenor: they and everything about the machine worked perfectly.
$50, though no case.
Things to Check When Meeting a Typewriter in the Wild
What should you look for when you meet the typewriter of your dreams but wonder if it works?
SM9 diagram. Excerpted from here. Click to enlarge.
Press the space bar [24]. Does the carriage advance?
Does the carriage rotate when you turn the platen knob [31]?
Does the carriage move along its track when you press the carriage release [15]?
Are all the keys there and do they each move? (Stiffness is normal. They need cleaning and oiling.)
Can you feed paper into it easily (put the paper behind the platen/roller and rotate the platen knob)?
Does the backspace work [27]?
Does the bell ring? (Moving the carriage to the far left should make it ring.)
If nothing moves, is the carriage lock [1] engaged?
What else do you check on a machine, dear typewriter aficionado?
Deal breakers for me: the machine shows signs of having been dropped (bent frame, severe malformation); is severely rusted; has major components missing; has been spray painted. But it is surprising what can be remedied or repaired.
And as with this SM9, a problem might have a simple solution, like the carriage lock is engaged. Or, with the wacky margin device on a Hermes, or a mid-century Royal with their annoying Magic Margins, it’s easy to accidentally move the margins side-by-side in the middle of the machine so it seems that the carriage can’t move. Perhaps there is just something jammed inside the machine. Does the carriage swing freely back and forth, seemingly unanchored? It’s likely the draw band is broken. A relatively simple fix, especially if it’s an otherwise excellent typewriter.
Of course, it helps to have a typewriter magician like Tom Furrier at Cambridge Typewriter to help.
An Intriguing SM9 Variant
Anyway, I was soon sitting in the car, grinning, with an Olympia SM9 by my side.
A bit of research on the Typewriter Database, right there in the car, and I found this was a rare moment in the Olympia line when a soft-sided zipper case was used. Those do not weather the decades well. No problem, I had a hard case at home this machine could share with its original occupant.
This was indeed an intriguing SM9 variant. It had the original SM9 body shape, but with a Saturn white body, lighter than the off-white original color, mixed with the later version coloring of charcoal black keys and platen knobs. One more iteration in the confusing array of Olympia SM8 and 9 variants.
One machine on the Database resembled mine, with a soft zipper case, and the same unusual typeface: Olympia Elite No. 60, with 11 characters per inch. But with light grey keys, not charcoal black ones.
After my Typewriter Diaries entry for the SM8 and SM9 earlier this year—finding to my surprise what I had was actually two SM8s—I’ve been more aware of the nuances of this fine model. Something I enjoy about typewriter hunting is there’s always something else to learn.
This SM9 was a keeper.
I haven’t cleaned it yet, but use it anyway, with just a new ribbon, it is in such fine shape. It must have been stored in a case for most of its life.
Praise for the SM9
Responding to my previous Olympia post, mountain guide and writer, Michael Wejchert, wrote to me with lyric praise of the SM9 model and its place in his work and gave permission to share it.
I loved your post on the Olympia SM9. I have three SM9s. I write for a living and use them for my first drafts and marking changes from editors. Writing on a manual helps me save time and manage my schedule at home. Though I have two from 1965, for some reason I love my wide-carriage 1970s model. I expect its looks are repugnant to collectors (even the sleeker earlier model seems to rub people the wrong way). I got it from a woman in a ramshackle apartment in Lancaster, New Hampshire for $45. It was coated in cigarette smoke and filthy, yet worked perfectly. (Each of my 60s SM9s have odd little ticks and teeny quirks.) I cleaned it and Tom Furrier cleaned it more and spruced up the platen. Its exterior is battered, its paint chipped and fading, but its mechanics are solid and I'd wager no finer machine exists for putting words on paper. It sits on my desk, ready to clack away whenever I need; happy (as happy as an inanimate object can be) to be put to work.
Thanks, Michael, for this beautiful description.
You can’t go wrong with an Olympia SM9.
“I’d wager no finer machine exists for putting words on paper.”
I believe this typeface is Olympia Elite No. 60. Type slugs still need cleaning, but not a bad impression having probably been unused for decades
Serial No. by the back right foot. #3539441. According to the Typewriter Database, a 1968 model.
Also: After Serial # 3,533,565, the color of the bottom shell was changed to Slate Gray, while the top shell changed to Saturn White. The previously Turquoise plastic parts like the shift keys had changed to Dark Gray after serial #3,447,700, and the rest of the keyboard and the carriage knobs changed to Slate Gray after serial # 3,533,565.
The completely new body shape with brighter white body was introduced the following year, 1969.
Oops. The price tag thingy is still attached … I love the charcoal gray with cream body look.
Ready for action on my fall, evening desk …
You Might Also Like
For typewriter ribbon advice, and details on using the Typewriter Database to date this model, scroll to the end of this post.
Other Typewriter Diary posts: I am slowly writing about each typewriter in my modest collection of twenty-five or so machines. Yes, I have some way to go.
You might also enjoy this piece on isolation at the start of the pandemic by SM9 user, Michael Wejchert.
Thanks for Reading
I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.