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Antique typewriters: where have they all gone?!
Posted by Chris on 19/04/2024
In the latest blog by Antiques.co.uk Founder Iain Brunt, explore what made the Jackson Type II antique collectable typewriter fetch a record price at auction recently - and how you could get your typewriter professionally appraised.
It was the ‘fastest machine in the world’. But…who remembers them?
As I was never in the office much I never truly got to use one of these in my early career. Now we just type on computers, phones and iPads. Arguably, nowadays it’s much less noisy, and certainly more forgiving if you make a mistake!
But back in the day (if you’re of a certain age, like me!) you’ll remember the noises of click click click as we walked past offices, with many office workers and secretaries busy typing away. It was a heck of a noise.
Many more learned shorthand and I know many people still do. But there’s one question which has been intriguing me for some time: what happened to all the typewriters? Where did they go?!
Setting a record for a collectable typewriter
Well, here’s one that we do know of. In this week’s Antiques Trade Gazette it was reported that a record price had been reached for a collectable typewriter. It’s a Jackson Type II model – extremely rare now.
> Read on to find out how much it went for!
Pictured: The Oliver No 9 vintage typewriter, listed on Antiques.co.uk. Patented From 1894 - 1912. Price £PLEASE ENQUIRE
What’s so special about this antique typewriter?
Joseph Hassel Jackson’s Typewriter Company of Boston, Massachusetts, advertised its first ‘time and labour saving’ product in August 1899. The Jackson Type I designed by factory foreman Andrew Wilton Steiger (1856-1935) was promoted as the ‘fastest machine in the world’ and priced at $100.
The curious ‘grasshopper action’ is described by Darryl Rehr in Antique Typewriters and Office Collectibles (1997) as: “Each type-bar resembles an elongated pantograph, with the scissors action accomplishing the mechanical gymnastics [that causes each bar to] do a somersault on its way to the platen.”
With just a few units produced and sold across four years (the Jackson Type II, made in around 1903, has a different typebar arrangement and keyboard layout), it's one of the rarest typewriters in the collecting hobby.
How much did this antique typewriter sell for?
Pictured: the Jackson Type II collectable typewriter
The example offered by Breker, which bears the maker’s plaque reading Patented Jackson Typewriter, Boston, Mass with the serial no 653, was estimated at €15,000-20,000.
It fetched an astonishing €22,000 (£18,900) from an online bidder using LiveAuctioneers.
It’s one of only a few Jackson Type II models known – although another, with the serial no 597, took €18,000 (£15,450) at the saleroom in April 2020.
What could yours be worth?
If you have a collectable typewriter and want to sell it, you could use our valuations service – and as part of that, we will list your items for sale. We have buyers looking for them on our website today!
Could yours be worth £19,000? > Find out today by asking our experts.
Happy hunting.
~ Iain