Monday, February 27, 2012

Post(Card)-A-Day 27: A Yost No. 20 Sighting; and Others


 
The Yost, in all its unrestored glory. This is a pretty rare and special machine, and Will Davis featured the one owned by Angie Jimenez on his site a few years ago. Looking at the pictures of that one, you get some sense of the potential for restoration here, but it would take a far stronger (wo)man than I.

 
100 years old, and not afraid to show her age. Just 50 francs! Any takers? Although if recent history is any indication, it will not be there when I return next week. Some new collectors in the region, perhaps.

 
Remington Standard No. 12.

 
"Built to last", Alan Seaver says. I can certainly believe it!

 
Hermes Baby, with the right platen knob sadly broken. Although not beyond repair, I would think.

 
Swissa Junior - pica typeface.

 
Oho! What have we here, lurking between a couple of refrigerators?

 
A Hermes Media 3, just like the one I found a few weeks ago.

 
And an accompanying Hermes 3000 from the same era. Both with pica typeface.

 
I don't know if I've seen grimier typewriters - perhaps these two were moonlighting as chimney sweeps?

15 comments:

  1. That Yost did look rather challenging. Now the Hermes 3000's I could use one like that for a parts machine. Nice hunting. My hunt as usual turned up 0, as in yes, zero machines, as usual.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fascinating Yost! I think I would have left it behind, too. There are also nice portables for us. :)
    Those two Hermesses are scary. Looks like caries for typewriters. Quelle horreur!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for sharing the thrill of the hunt! That Yost does look pretty bad, but it must have been interesting to inspect. My Yost no. 15 was in similar condition until the proverbial Evapo-Rust bath and quite a bit of tinkering. It is now in operable condition for demonstration purposes, but not for real typing, and it would need new paint and decals in order to look really good. The Yost frontstrokes are almost never found in their country of manufacture -- almost all were exported to Europe. Very ingenious and wonderful typewriters.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richard, I was secretly hoping you would demand I return to the market and acquire the Yost to send to you! But I don't think it would be worth it to have two demonstration-only Yosts, and certainly not for all the trouble it would take to ship.

      Now, perhaps some other commenter will feel differently... Georg?

      Delete
    2. I will forego this one, but if you happen to spot a Waverley, even if it's a solid block of rust, I'll take it! :)

      Delete
    3. I have a close to perfect yost 15, after dusting and adding abit lubricant here and there it's in sweet writing condition. It was stores at my Grandfather's place until he passed away some years ago.

      How I know it's in writing condition, well I've used it on a couple of re-enactment plays here in Norway. And it works fine.

      But one thing I wonder about, is the colour of the bronse\gold decals. are they suposed to be shiny(if that is the case I should prehaps consider to leave it with an expert.. if they do exist in Norway)

      Delete
    4. I have a close to perfect yost 15, after dusting and adding abit lubricant here and there it's in sweet writing condition. It was stores at my Grandfather's place until he passed away some years ago.

      How I know it's in writing condition, well I've used it on a couple of re-enactment plays here in Norway. And it works fine.

      But one thing I wonder about, is the colour of the bronse\gold decals. are they suposed to be shiny(if that is the case I should prehaps consider to leave it with an expert.. if they do exist in Norway)

      Delete
  4. Joining the chorus, that Yost is a standout. I always enjoy your market sightings.

    Off-topic:
    Based on pure intuition, I feel that it's you who's going to find a Sphinx typewriter first. ( :

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That Sphinx-idea was my thought, too... :)

      Delete
    2. I can only wish! Thanks for the vote of confidence, Ton and Florian, I hope my diligent trips to the market will pay off handsomely one day with a spectacular Sphinx find...

      Delete
    3. Adwoa, please promise us to take a Sphinx if you come across it - you could still give it to Georg... :)

      Delete
    4. If I do come across a Sphinx, I'll take it, I promise! I might even keep it for myself... well, at least for a while :)

      Delete
  5. Yet another field trip in Geneva where every one of your "leave-behinds" would be an unquestioned prize find here in the states! :D

    Best of luck on your Sphinx hunt! (:

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hello, I get a bit lost in the reply reply buttons - I am still waiting for those to appear on MY blog.
    The Yost sure looks nice, but for some reason it does not interest me much. It would be a great task for cleaning, though. On the other hand, I would love to get the serial numbers of all the Hermes and the Swissa, too. Serial number plus picture provides for excellent research material.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your comment! Please note that comments are moderated; so this will be posted as soon as I have read it :)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...