I have an L. C. Smith 12-inch mechanical typewriter from circa 1925 I think? It has all the keys and could be used with a new ribbon and a little mechanical TLC. My best guess makes it out to be a mass-produced commodity model worth about $25 (though apparently if I cut off the keys I could sell them for about that much as artisanal craft trinkets).
What should I do with it? I want rid of it, and the damn thing weighs 30 pounds. I’m not sure the trashman would take it. As much as I can reckon, the shipping would be 3x the sale price. Anybody want to roll the dice on a POTENTIAL GOLDMINE?
I don’t know from typewriters, my best friend picked it up as a decoration and moved out of town shortly thereafter, dropping it on me.
I should have mentioned
(1) I’m in Atlanta if anyone’s interested, and
(2) I’m trying to avoid taking it to the scrapyard. It’s kind of a hassle because the only one around is an industrial thing where i have to wait 20 minutes in line to have my entire car weighed (which looks funny, me, in my little civic, waiting in line between 2 huge dumptrucks) all for the reimbursement of 75 cents.
But probably my best option is to cut off the keys and haul it off to the scrapyard myself, unless someone in the area wants it.
Can’t you charge shipping and handling if you Ebay it? I would seriously look into selling it online, or looking for a local antique store that might want it (just call them up first to confirm before lugging it around). Even f you aren’t interested in the money, it’d be a shame to destroy an out of production good that likely has someone interested in it.
This store in Virginia is selling L.C. Smith typewriters from the 1930s for over a thousand dollars. So it might be worth more than $25 to the right person.
OK, all the helpful links have convinced me to follow up with an antiques collector. I was thinking the shipping cost would be so astronomical that it would exceed the value of the item, but maybe I shouldn’t put so much faith in my amateur typewriter appraisal skills.
Take it to a nursing home and let the oldsters with Alzheimer’s pound away on it.
Seriously, my dad cannot manage a computer anymore, but he’s still got crazy typing skills. When I mentioned the idea to a geriatrics nurse, she thought it was genius.
How much is the shipping cost and how much would you take for it? Do you have any pictures? Serial Number?
I already have two Underwoods. An L.C. Smith sounds interesting to me, depending on the condition.
If it were actually worthless, I’m in Atlanta and I’d take it in a heartbeat. But I think you should get someone who really knows about these things to appraise it - I would be very surprised if something like that, that old, is worth only $25.
Even if it were worthless, you could sell the keys for lots of things and make more than $25 on them.
