Tuesday Treasures - September 16, 2025
Guess what my son found at St. Vincent de Paul?
If you guessed a typewriter, you'd be right!
Not just any typewriter, probably his most valuable. It's a beauty.
Not just any typewriter, probably his most valuable. It's a beauty.
Really! Even I was impressed when he opened the case.
A German-made Olympia SM-4, 1958-1961, the gold plated model. See, it really is a beauty and it's not even cleaned up yet.
Yes, he said, "No more typewriters," but there are exceptions. This was $15.00, and while he isn't interested in selling it, they are offered for sale at prices over $1,000!
Speaking of typewriters, a few days before, I got him one in the Goodwill Bins. He doesn't collect electric models, which this is, but I brought it home for $3 anyway. It's a 1969 Sears Medalist 12, and works great! He had never tried an electric typewriter before, so was quite surprised how much he liked it. He says he going to sell some of his other typewriters to make room. NOT the gold plated one though.
It's shown in the 1969 Sears Spring/Summer Catalog. Quite expensive for 1969.
I took typing as an elective in high school. I think it was just a semester. For one week we got to use the electric typewriters, the rest of the time just manuals. Now I'm trying to remember what class would have been the other semester.
Oh, did I get anything? At St. Vincent de Paul I only got some postcards, surprise, surprise! Next week I share what I got in the Bins the day I found the typewriter.
For now, I'll share a Bins find of a hand-painted watercolor (meaning not a print) with calligraphy from a while back. I don't think I shared it before, let me know if you've seen it already. A single sheet of paper, so this couldn't have been more than a cent or two.
The kanji, Japanese characters that represent whole words, read koi, banner or streamer, to celebrate, child or children, day or sun. The kanji for child or children is often used in reference to Children's Day, where koi (carp) streamers are flown to celebrate Children's Day, May 5th. The streamers are called koinobori.
So, a rough translation could be “Celebrating Children’s Day with Koinobori.” Kanji can have multiple meanings depending on the context, but this one seems likely. The red seal is the artist's name or studio.
...I love the koinobori.
ReplyDeleteIt was probably bought at the festival as a souvenir, as I found a similar online of two koinobori in the same position, but obviously done by a different artist.
DeleteI keep one just for show. My mom's Letterra 22. No one bought it at my parent's auction, so I kept it and love it. I think it was meant to be since I became an author years later.
ReplyDeleteWhen I took typing in high school, all we used were the electric typewriters. Lovely machines. It was a year-long course for us.
ReplyDeleteI learned to type on a manual. I've used a lot of different typewriters. Both of these are beauties and definitely were more expensive than others which were so flimsy they might not even have been usable as toys. Some of my favorites that I used in office settings once I started to work as a typist were Selectric typewriters because you never had to unjam the ball as vs. keys.
ReplyDelete