Luke Austin Daugherty: My Pick of the Week- A 1947 Royal Quiet Deluxe Typewriter

As a reader of my blog, you probably don't know what I do for a living besides writing and music. I don't reference it often in my articles. I buy and sell as my main trade outside of creative pursuits. Truth be told, creativity is very useful when picking. After purchasing an item, it goes on one of my ebay stores. The primary being, "Brother Luke's Treasures."

See the link following:

http://stores.ebay.com/Brother-Lukes-Treasures

I tend to buy and sell a lot of the same types of things weekly: vintage clothing, electronics, shoes, housewares, etc, etc. But, I also run across some very cool, interesting, and/or rare items regularly. I've thought for some time about sharing some pictures and information about them on my blog. So, from the thrift stores, auctions, garage sales, and junk yards I frequent, I bring you, "My Pick of the Week."

For installment #1, I have a good one for you! After going to my youngest daughter's soccer game this morning, I saw that a church was having a rummage sale across the street. As I moved from table to table, I picked out a few decent picks at a bargain price: a vintage leather briefcase, an old cosmetic travel case, and one or two other items. Then, I felt a "disturbance in the force" and looked around... I saw a beautiful site from across the large room. It was an old Royal typewriter in the original case.

: 1947 Royal Quiet DeLuxe -Photo Luke Austin Daugherty

If you have followed my blog for any length of time, you'll know that I love my 1966 Smith-Corona Super Sterling. I generally write all of my current poetry on that typewriter. So, I have a special passion for a good manual typewriter.

Though most everything else was dirt-cheap at the sale, they had a $50 tag on the typewriter. That wouldn't be a bad price if you were looking for a good manual and were going to keep it. But, I'll likely sell it and wanted to make sure there is enough room there to score some dough. I figured there was a slim chance that they would get anyone through the door willing to pay $50 for an old typewriter. There are plenty of folks looking for them online, but you won't bump into a serious typewriter fan everyday on the street. I decided to leave a note with the lady in front that I would pay $30 if it didn't sell for there price and my cell number. To my delight, I got a call from her about 45 minutes before the rummage sale was over and she said that I could buy it at that price. I jumped in my Buick Roadmaster Wagon with one son and our dog and shot over to the church.

I did a pretty basic function test earlier to make sure the unit was serviceable. It needed a normal cleaning, but seemed to be in order. Once I got it home, I cleaned it, freed up a few sticky keys, and got the ribbon advance working properly again. It types like a dream! The ribbon is pretty old and dried out, so the type isn't very dark. I'll get a new one ordered this week. Until then, the old ribbon will serve its purpose.

I must admit, it will be hard to get rid of this typewriter and I may just keep it. In buying and selling, I tend to embrace the drug dealer rule of, "Don't get high on your own supply." That works for pickers too. It is easy to fall in love with items you pick if you pick what you like or collect. Pickers with a "collector" mindset can find it hard to let their picks go. I'm not a collector. But, I do love a good typewriter! Only time will tell if I sell it or keep it :)

Here is the run down on "My Pick of the Week"-

Item: Vintage, manual typewriter

Brand: Royal

Model: Quiet De Luxe portable

Year Produced: 1947 per my serial number research

Includes: Original case, manual, and typing tutorial.

Weight: 12 lb 2 oz for the typewriter alone (contrast 13 lb for my Smith-Corona), 16 lb 6 oz in the case.

Color: Black with chrome accents

Interesting notes: As with some old typewriters, there is no "1" key or exclamation point. You just use the lowercase "L" for the 1 and make the exclamation point by hitting period, then backspacing and hitting shift/8 for the apostrophe. Together, that produces the exclamation point. It is a very solid machine has a fairly light touch with the "touch control" adjusted down. The black knobs on the ends of the carriage are very well made. On my son's Hermes Media 3, those knobs are made of very weak plastic. On this Royal, they seem bullet-proof. The manual is simple and covers just what you need.

If you have never used an old typewriter, it can be a unique typing experience compared to modern computers. If you are a writer, utilizing a typewriter can have an interesting impact on your process and unlock new creativity. In either case, I suggest you take an old typewriter for a spin sometime. For more information on vintage typewriters, this is a great website:

http://typewriterdatabase.com/

See below for more pics of my new Royal! I have included full pictures of the manual that you can magnify if you have the same unit and want to find out something about your own machine functions :)