Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Valentines on Valentine's


14 comments:

  1. They are so pretty, side by side! They look a little like His and Hers! LOL! I love the red.

    Happy Valentine's Day!

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  2. Aesthetics matter, and these are very attractive machines. I have an Olympia SM3 with a great italic typeface that seldom gets used because the color (moon dust) triggers only one emotional response: Meh. It may well end up Ferrari red when it gets warm enough to paint outside.

    On the other hand, I hope you picked these up before prices went crazy. For $400-500, I personally would have to pass on anything besides aesthetic and mechanical perfection.

    Unrelated point of curiosity: How heavily does aesthetic appearance weigh in the brass section of a symphony?

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    1. I bought these Valentines in late 2001 - early 2002, and paid what I thought was a fairly high price at the time. But nothing like today's.

      I was happy to pay it because I was very attracted to the Valentine.

      To answer your question: Aesthetic appearance in symphony brass sections is secondary to the actual brand of musical instrument being used. French horn sections in particular tend to play similar equipment, to produce a certain unified sound. But the actual physical appearance is not as important.

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  3. They really are lovely to look at :)

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  4. Beautiful machines! I'm definitely getting one as soon as I find it... not as common down here, in Mexico. (It is already on my wish list!)

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  5. As much as I like my small Olivettis, I'm sure I'd like these too. I suspect they type like a Lettera 33. Interesting how one is more of a tomato red than the other.

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  6. I would not mind owning a Valentine, it got me with looks alone so performance is secondary.

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  7. p.s. And thank goodness there's a Valentine to rescue us from the black-and-gray monotony!

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  8. Very nice typewriters! and very fitting for today. I really love those typefaces. I often want a Valentine, but I refuse to pay what I see them selling for. The Valentine typewrites look so very fascinating.

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  9. I like red !
    Happy Heart Day to the both of you!
    PS - we enjoyed Bisbee. We went a few couple there; they seemed like new guys.

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  10. I also noticed that one of them has a red (tab?) key and the other doesn't. Interesting...

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  11. And one has two little 'dots' on the lid - to protect the plastic of rubbing angainst the case?

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  12. They are indeed lovely to look at, and the type is nice and clean. I like the little differences between the two.

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  13. They look like classic cars. I can imagine them in the garage waiting to be taken out for a Sunday drive.

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