b4cksp4ce

b4cksp4ce

Tuesday 10 September 2013

Cinderella in plain clothes?





7 comments:

  1. No two typewriters can be so different yet so similar.

    From the outside, Valentine represents avant-garde design while Dora/315 represents no-design. Typing action, of course, is another story.

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  2. Well - to my untrained eye Underwood 315 could be treated like a print wheel in electric typewriters. Just a body swap and you can have your Valentine with any charset you can find a cheap Underwood with. Yes - most likely a bit more fiddly job than print wheel change... :)

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  3. I think that's why collectors/typists have a love/hate thing about the Valentine - the Raleigh Chopper of typewriters.

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    1. The hate must run deep - there is one Valentine on UK ebay now with £65 buy it now price (that includes delivery) sitting already for 24 hours with no buyer. Yes, there are a few issues: crack in the case, missing ribbon spool covers (personally I would call them either "gondolier's hats" or "nipples" ;) ) but the brushes are included which is not common. If I hadn't mine already I guess I would be buying that one despite its flaws - hey, but it is just me.

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  4. PS: love the menace you wrung out of the Noiseless in your banner!

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    1. Thanks - I saw sort of the Vader-esque quality and distant hints of Robby The Robot (of the Forbidden Planet movie) in the frontal view so I tried to catch that attitude. And somehow it seemed in line with the blog's colour scheme :) I love that typewriter though.

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  5. I never realsied this about the Valentine... very interesting. There is no doubt about how pretty it looks but as to its typeing action... far too light.
    She looks like a tart and types like she's wearing wobbling stilletos.
    ..
    There is one in a display case at the Barbican Centre (London) being all fancy and chic... except whoever put it in didn't notice there is a keypad missing .. the X ... I wonder if the keypads are interchangeable?

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