Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Clickety Clack....Don't Talk Back!



A side trip to Charlotte Woodson Antiques, in Mt. Brook Village after my walk yesterday was yet another treasure trove for me.  I ended up spending about 2 hours with Dinah, the delightful owner, talking about France of course, and photographing so many lovely things in her beautiful shop. This is why I LOVE doing this blog. I meet so many interesting, friendly people!!!  Today,  her mint condition Corona.  Isn't it just the best? 



39 comments:

Maya said...

It's so pretty! I love old typewriters. I used to type my papers on one like this when I was a kid. It wasn't this pretty green color though.

Thérèse said...

I can hear the clicking from here. Actually very trendy these days by what I heard on the radio.

angela said...

It's a reminder that computers haven't actually been round that long. I can remember playing on one of these as a child..

Olivier said...

j'adore ces vieilles machines à écrire et leurs touches. c'est plus beau qu'un clavier d'ordinateur. bravo pour les photos et merci pour ce moment de nostalgie
I love these old machines to be written and their keys. it is nicer than a keyboard of computer. bravo for photographs and thank you for this instant of nostalgia

Babzy.B said...

Beautiful , i can imagine the sound of keyboard ....

alice said...

Bye Apple or PC, hy Corona! Lovely green color with this red ribbon...
Several posts about antiques in France too, today.

Laurie Allee said...

I am loving this, V.

Bergson said...

une race en voie d'extinction
a breed nearing extinction

Emma Bond said...

I adore this typewriter! have had my eye on one on ebay! Love your blog by the way!

Pat said...

These old typwriters are so pretty, especially the ones in color. In ninth grade, we had to learn to type (on manual machines; only two electric ones that we fought over) and I hated it. However, I am thankful now that I learned how. I see so many people pecking with one finger.

I've seen jewelry made of the old keys you show here--cufflinks, bracelets...

D said...

Oh, it's beautiful. I just bought an old Underwood for my Dad at an estate sale this weekend. He will only type on manuals and he wears them out fast, so I buy every one I find and can afford.
This one is too pretty to use!

Unknown said...

It's beautiful! I don't remember seeing a green one ever!

Virginia said...

D,
FYI, Dinah has a place in town that works on them. Maybe you can get your Dad's fixed here.

BIbi,
Yes, we fought over the good typewriters too. I am glad I learned how to type. Makes blogging a lot faster!

Miranda McAfee said...

love the details.

Anonymous said...

Where do you suppose it was hiding all these years in order to stay in perfect condition? Do they go for hundreds of dollars, or thousands?

RoeH said...

Well that takes me back!

Victor said...

This isn't the first time you've struck gold in an antique shop. I seem to remember some images of a phonograph...

For some reason, this reminds me of old cameras, how beautiful they are to look at and to hold but they are slow and cumbersome compared to modern marvels. But modern marvels are prone to unexpected failures so Mrs. Snapper (a writer by trade) covets one of these old manual typewriters. Your lovely photos of this Corona will have her salivating...

Rob said...

What a treasure! I don't recall seeing a green typewriter. However, I rely on the backspace button and now the embedded spell check.

Virginia said...

DL, YOu are to be commended for using the Spell Check! Lord knows you have probably worn it out!
V

Snap, Thanks my friend. I've added Gruppo F to my links. Incredible photos for sure. Take care.

Diederick Wijmans said...

That is the first green typewriter I see. Wonderful good old times, although the computer resolves so many things so easily!

Wayne said...

It's not quite mint, the 1 key seems to be missing. But how often would you need that anyway? That's what the small L is for, backup.

A lot of effort certainly went into the design and style back in the day. When I went to school it seemed like most of the typewriters were some shade of beige or gray. But everything is relative, when V. went to school she tells me they were had just moved away from stone tablets and over to parchment.

Kate said...

It's interesting what objects become collectors' items. The colour is indeed unusual; most of us who used them remember them as black, I'd bet.

Jilly said...

I used to have a typewriter much like this, but black, and it was forever sticking and changing the ribbon was a nightmare. Goodness how times have changed and thank goodness in terms of computers. How lovely it is tho, especially that beautiful green colour with the red and black ribbon just dangling. Love it. What would the value of this be now, Virginia?

Ming the Merciless said...

We had a typewriter when I was a kid. I learned to type at a very young age so when the computer world came around, I was the fastest typist in class. :-)

Virginia said...

Jilly,
I can remember those keys sticking and you'd get your fingers all inky and having to erase your mistakes with that rubber pencil thing! But I do so love they made when you typed on them.

W. Who are you kidding! You were sitting right behind me dunking my pigtails in the inkwell!!!

I have no idea how much they are worth. Maybe DInah will drop us a comment or email me if she knows!

Bob Crowe said...

And QWERTYUIOP to you, too. Geez, my mother had something similar to this. By the time I went to college n the late 60s we were already up to portable electrics. Now I talk to my computer and it types. Soon we will produce text by mind control, Gorgeous color here with the intense green machine and the red of the two-tone ribbon. I remember typewriter ribbons - we grow old.

Virginia said...

BOb,
I pray that nothing ever reads my mind and types it.
That is way too scary!!! NOBODY needs to be able to read that nonsense. And now that think about it,
reading your mind might be scary too! HA

PS Embarassed to say how long it took me to figure out QWERTYUIOP!!! You're so clever.

Ken Mac said...

I love old typewriters. And that crazy green!

Deadella_Iskandar said...

unique ^^
in Indonesia, we called it Mesin Tik ...
because the sound is tik -tik -tik..

Virginia said...

Star's Zone
Thank you for your comment. I like hearing about your country's expression for it. Mesin Tik... tik tik is just what it sounds like! How nice. Please comment again.
V

Thérèse said...

The Indian fair is once a year in March and the Heard Museum is fabulous though I haven't visited it since it has been renovated.http://www.heard.org/Page.aspx?pid=183

Marie-Noyale said...

never seen it in green!!
Reminds me of the thriller:" Jagged edge" with Glen Close if you like the edge of your seat that's a good one!

tr3nta said...

very beautiful type writer...

Jane Hards Photography said...

I adore them im theory, but no give me modern silent keyboards anyday. Mind you these make prettier images. I meet so many interesting people to, virtually that is.

rhymeswithplague said...

Virginia, I love this post! You are aware, aren't you, that the song title was "Yakety Yak, Don't Talk Back"? You were just doing a variation on it, right? Right! ;)

It took me back to my heyday....

Bob Brague
Canton, Georgia

rhymeswithplague said...

Wayne, the manual typewriters didn't have a numeral 1 key. We HAD to use the lower case L (l).

-K- said...

What a beustiful machine.

I feel the same way as you about blogs - it gets me out to see so many interesting things.

Juergen Kuehn said...

Like to abduct this fine lady for a dance with letters and words.

Anonymous said...

Why, Juergan Kuehn, I'd love to dance with you...oh!..how embarassing...you mean my typewriter, don't you?

I appreciate all the lovely comments about my typewriter. Let me tell you the history of it as far as I know: I bought this at an estate sale in Charlottesville, VA about ten years ago.I put it in the antiques shop (Henhouse Antiques) I shared with Judy and Barbara--but it never made it to the shelf for sale as Judy fell in love with it and bought it from me for her daughter, Libby.

Time went by and I opened a shop of my own...more time and I started thinking of that adorable little typewriter. Couldn't get it out of my mind! So, I called Judy ad asked if she still had the machine and if so, would she be willing to sell it.

A few days l;ater Judy walked into my shop with the little green darling and GAVE it to me! I took it to Alabama Typewriter near UAB Medical Center and had it cleaned and re-ribboned and here it now proudly sits.

I usually have a typed note in it which says "Foxie (my shop dog) and this typewriter are not for sale at any price--dollars, euros, zlotys, swiss francs, pesos, etc.

As my shop is en route between the local elementary school and Gilchrist's Soda Fountain, some children come in to pet Foxie and to see the typewriter. Invariably, they are entranced. "Where's the "delete' key?" they ask. They tend to hunt and peck very gingerly so I have to tell them it's more of an "attack" they need to make.

One day, a little girl asked if she might take the page she had typed to her Social Studies teacher.

Insensitive, brattish child!!