Machine identification, condition grading, market values, and the quiet craft of building a considered collection of typewriters spanning 1890 through 1980.
Overshadowed by the Royal Quiet De Luxe on the collector market, the Silent-Super is arguably the better typing machine. Here is what it does well, where it struggles, and how to buy one.
Between 1939 and 1955 Royal built more Quiet De Luxes than any other portable in the American market. Here is how to read the serial, spot the good years, and avoid the tired ones.
Ten letter grades exist in the wild; five actually mean something. Here is the working scale most serious collectors use, and how to apply it in ten minutes with a flashlight and a sheet of paper.
A 1902 Blickensderfer 7 sells for less than a 1959 Olivetti Lettera 22 in the same week. That is not a mistake. It is the market telling you what rarity actually means.
The best machines rarely sit on the table under a sign that reads 'antique typewriter, £600'. They sit under a tablecloth, behind a broken lamp, in a leatherette case someone thought was a bowling bag.
Twenty typewriters chosen around a theme make a collection. Sixty typewriters chosen because they were cheap make a storage problem. Here is how experienced collectors close that gap.