Antiques
Vari-Typer Antique Typewriter
- Item Number
- 278
- Estimated Value
- Priceless
- Leading Bid
- 50 USD
- Number of Bids
- 1 - Bid History
Item Description
A great addition for an antique collector or lover of old things! Could be used as an interesting accessory in your home! The Vari-Typer was a highly ingenious "word processor" of the pre-digital age. This machine could use over 300 different type styles and write in 55 languages; it could adjust the space between characters, and even produce right-justified copy. Even though the Vari-Typer enjoyed a successful career of about 60 years, you may never have seen one, for the machine was not generally adopted as a standard typewriter. Instead, it found a niche as a "cold typesetting" or "office composing" machine: it was generally used to produce neat, camera-ready copy for offset printing, at a cost much lower than that of conventional printer's methods.
The Vari-Typer is based on one of the greatest early typewriters, the Hammond. After James Hammond died in 1913, he willed his patents to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Later, his company was bought by Frederick Hepburn Co. and the machine was renamed Vari-Typer. This company failed in the Depression, and it was sold in 1933 to a partnership headed by Ralph C. Coxhead, a business machine salesman. Throughout these convulsions, the company remained headquartered in New York City.
This model that is available in the auction has a placard that reads:
Registered U.S. Patent Office and Foreign Countries
Ralph C. Coxhead Comp.
New York, NY
This is a unique machine!
Item Special Note
We do not have any of the additional fonts for this machine.
Item is only available for pickup at the Titusville location.
Donated By:
Turmy Lum
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