Folding Coronas from the early 20th Century make for attractive, if not cute, window displays. These are working machines in pristine condition.
$280 each at this Berkeley antique shop. The pics are from last summer.
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Another fetching Corona 3 Folding, this time, a real
display-only piece. I took this shot in Orlando,
Florida, just a couple of weeks ago, at the house of
Ben Berinti, a friend of mine who is a co-retrophile.
Note the interesting vintage ensemble that complements
the Corona. The colorful tin on the top shelf is a 1933
Chicago World's Fair memento.
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Ben has a second display-Corona
parked in his bedroom. I find
the oddly placed
back-space key of these machines - upper right, below the platen - utterly fascinating. |
And below is a contribution from another friend, Juan Acuña, who took this shot at a shop window in Vancouver, Canada, during the Christmas holiday. Easily one of the most photogenic machines around, the Oliver #9 was one of the stars of the film Naked Lunch (David Cronenberg, 1991). This model was produced in Chicago between 1915-1922. For me, it is the quintessential example of a typewriter whose astonishing beauty outlives it's functionality.
I will snag me an Oliver one day.
Universe, are you listening?
* Typecast via Triumph Perfekt
14 comments:
I am only now noticing the upper space bar on these Corona 3s - how ingenious! Not sure why I never realized it before... probably because I haven't used one yet :)
Great round-up; I love seeing typewriters on display and the ones I spot are usually of the Underwood 5 variety. The glasses in the third picture are a nice touch.
Hope you are doing well. Great post. Thanks fro your comments.
@Adwoa, I meant "back-space key," not space bar. Oops. Still, how ingenious indeed! I have close-up shots of them but they just didn't turn out as clear as I had wanted.
@Luis, gracias.
I learned to type in a high school typing class in 1963, and I've been using that skill in one way or another ever since...including teaching high school typing myself in the 1970s and 1980s. Your posts bring back so many memories for me, as I know they do for others. I'm so glad you and others in the Typosphere are keeping those memories alive.hyd
The Corona Folding was the reason for my rekindled interest in typewriters back in 2001, when I saw one at an antique mall in Rochester NY. (I hadn't used a typewriter since the mid-1980s.)
I thought it was the coolest, smallest typewriter I'd ever seen. "The world's first laptop!" I exclaimed. I just had to have it.
I have a couple of typewriters out in active use. There is no way to store the Oliver 9, so it is always out for display and notes back and forth with gingercat.
We also have a 1950s maple end table with a rotating display. Sometimes that is an interesting camera, but at the moment it is a Corona 3. These are very attractive machines.
Nice display-Coronas. Thanks for sharing.
They do make for beautiful scenes.
Very nice displays. It must be nice to have the space to display at least one typewriter.
Lovely tableaus! I like the afternoon tea set-up the best :) Adorable.
@Dana, I'm still convincing you to get at least one typewriter!
@Cameron, I can certainly see why. They're lookers.
@Dwayne, a maple end-table with a rotating display? Sounds perfect for displaying a typer.
@maschinengeschreiben, @Richard P., @Bill M, @GIFM, many thanks for the kind comments!
I just love those Coronas #3! They are great for decoration. I ended up buying a few months ago just to put on the shelf decorating. Although it was damaged was dirt cheap and makes a wonderful picture:)
That Oliver is quite impressive! I love seeing typewriters out and about--they're so friendly.
@Fernando, you're right, they really make good display typers. And there are some cheap ones to be had.
@Lauren, glad you like the Oliver. It's beautiful in an unusual way.
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