We are active full time antique dealers in vintage
office
related antiques and early antique typewriters.
We buy, sell, and deal in many different office related antiques and collectibles. This is our buying and general antique information website. We conduct our
antique sales from our sister website
www.Patented-Antiques.com
We buy early office related antiques such as antique staplers,
mechanical pencil sharpeners,
antique check protectors,
antique calculators & adders, vintage slide
rules,
and more. Most of the office antiques I am talking about date from the turn of the
20th century and before. I am not talking about and do not deal in most office equipment from the 1930's and later.
I have provided addition specific information on
some other types of office antiques
we deal in on pages at this website and
have attempted to lay out the criteria or
guidelines for the age / vintage and condition
of office antiques we are interested
in.
There are
separate pages linked in the left column for
antique electric or
fuel fans and
calculation devices. Please visit those pages if that is what
you have. On the right there are links to past sales
results with additional info and prices that individual.
Please contact us at
AntiqBuyer@gmail.com if you have EARLY PRE 1920 office related antiques that
you want to sell. If you have additional questions please
see the
FAQ / Questions page.
Condition
Condition is critical to the
value of all antique & collectible typewriters and office antiques. With
most office collectibles
and antiques the earlier
the better
and the more unusual the better.
The same piece in near mint / perfect condition can sell for up to 10
times what the same piece in poor condition will bring.
There are very few typewriters or other
office antiques that date from later than the 1920's that are considered
desirable. Common later typewriters such as those made by Underwood,
Corona, Remington, Oliver, and many others are poor sellers and not much
in demand unless they are the first models of that typewriter. Simply
check eBay completed sale prices to confirm that.
Antique typewriters from the turn of the century or earlier, and typewriters & early office machines
that have a different appearance from the norm, are usually of interest. If you will look at the
pictures that I have provided here, and visit the
Typewriter Past Sales page you will get a better sense of what I mean.
Desirable antique typewriters include those called Index typewriters. These
vintage typewriters have unusual indexing devices instead of a standard
keyboards (like the machine to the right).
Most typewriters whose keyboard do not spell out QWERTY as the first six keys
on the top left side of the
keyboard are going to be an unusual & collectible typewriter.
Antique Typewriters that have double
keyboards (one each for upper and lower case) or curved keyboards,
or keys that are made of wood are early & unusual.
Antique typewriters that have
keys that strike the paper from below or behind are desirable and collectible. These antique typewriters are referred to as upstrikes or grasshoppers.
To sum up, antique typewriters that have features
different from those that you see on most
later and typical machines have the most potential to be collectible in demand.
Most typewriters from the 1930's and later seen at the thrift stores or at most garage sales are too late and too
common to have much
collector value. Typewriters from this era are being bought and their keys
cut off to make jewelry out of.
Or for their decorator value which is limited as there is so little demand
or interest.
The picture at the top of the page on the left above is of a vintage
typewriter called the New Franklin and is an example of an antique
typewriter that has a curved keyboard.
The Hammond typewriter is a good example of the types of changes
that a typewriter could go through during its production period over the
years, and how different models have different values. The first model Hammond had a curved keyboard with wooden
keys that almost looked like small piano keys. This is the most
valuable and as expected hardest to find model. Later models
had either curved or straight keyboards, and the keys
themselves developed into something very similar to those on most later machines
found today. The typewriter on the right is a #12 Hammond and is
considered relatively common. They also produced what is known as the Multi-Plex another
relatively common typewriter.
Names of some other desirable curved keyboard
typewriters include the Polygraph, Imperial, Salter,
Columbia Bar Lock and Crandall to name just a few.
The
next few pictures are of more index typewriters, or keyless typewriters. One of
the best known is the Odell which was first
patented in 1887. The Odell came in several models numbers, each having subtle
differences. Again the first model is considered the hardest to find.
It should be noted that there are
other index typewriters that are very similar in appearance with different
names on them that were
produced either under
license from the patent holder, or as with some models of calculators and
other office devices, as knockoffs or copies of the real thing that were
offered on the market in competition.
While the Odell
and the French Virotyp
pictured above were based on a round design, other
typewriters with an indexing feature were straight like the Merritt
index typewriter. These typewriters were
very popular
as attested to by the number of machines that have survived today.
It
must have been a combination of low cost and the notion that most people's
handwriting was so bad that they needed to spend the time fiddling
with one of these contraptions in order to have their thoughts understood
on the receiving end. I wonder how many words a minute were possible
with one of these.
Some other names of early patented typewriters that operate
in a similar mode and that I would be interested in buying are The
Hall, Champion, Peoples, Columbia, and Crown, to name just a few.
The typewriters
seen, and described here and on the
typewriter past sales results page are examples of the
caliber, condition and quality of office antique typewriters that I am interested in.
If you have any antique typewriters or other office
related antiques that you want to sell please contact us at
LCM@AntiqBuyer.com
To see examples of office related antiques
that I currently have for sale please go to our sister site
at www.Patented-Antiques.com
.
Patented & Mechanical
Antique Pencil Sharpeners
We buy Antique
& Collectible Pencil Sharpeners!!
If you have quality antique or
vintage pencil sharpeners that you want to sell, please contact us at AntiqBuyer@gmail.com providing me with as many details as possible.
Antique pencil sharpeners / pointers
are a
very popular antique office collectible.
The market for vintage antique pencil sharpeners has changed over the years. Ebay initially drove prices for early pencil
sharpeners to record highs, but
over time, as the limited pool of collectors got filled up, demand eased,
and the constant supply overfilled the market, prices dropped.
Here is a perfect example. Below is the Gould
& Cook pencil sharpener. It is an early hard to find and
desirable
antique pencil sharpener. Before
eBay and the internet they sold for a couple / few hundred dollars on the
best of days.
In the hey-day examples
were selling on eBay and privately for $1000-1500. Much of that buying and selling was going on between
dealers helping to drive the price up further. After a period of
time, and after most serious collectors prices tapered off. The final price
correction happened after 6 of them were listed on eBay the same week. They started selling for no more than
a couple hundred. Today, nice examples typically sell for 300 -
500
when offered and sold on eBay. That same sort of price history has happened for almost
all specific sharpeners.
Pencil Sharpeners are not alone in experiencing this sort of price adjustment. Just like it did with Beam bottles,
Avon, beanie babies, lunch
boxes, Griswold Cast Iron and
every other collectible that got hot and then cooled off.
Antique Pencil Sharpener History
The
race to design and market the "best" pencil sharpener seems to have begun
in the 1880's to about 1910 or so. There were a few
interesting
collectible versions designed coming from the popular deco era, but that
is the general time frame for most good examples.
In general unusual and rare Pencil sharpeners that date from before or near the turn of the century
are the ones that are the most collectible and have best held their value. After that outfits like Boston and Dexter dominated the market with their
roller burr cutter models, and the
era of design ended.
The following pictures are of some
of the earlier and harder to find mechanical pencil sharpeners. Values for these patented pencil pointers can range from under $100 up into 4 figures
even today. There are
a few truly rare and desirable patented and mechanical sharpeners
that occasionally pop up and sell for record prices.
Mechanical pencil sharpeners that perform their job through the use of knives or other unusual methods
rather than the later more typical ones using
roller mill
cutters / burrs such as Bostons & Dexters, are more desirable and
valuable.
The
pencil sharpener on the left is called the
Little Shaver or Handy.
It comes in a number of variations both in
finish and in simple design changes to hold the cutter, the pencil, or the
make-up of the swinging arm. Note the condition of that one with the original label
from a shoe store still affixed. Details like that enhance value.
The relatively common U.S. Automatic Pencil Sharpener was patented in about
1906, and several different variants of it exist. The example at the top of the page is a one-of-a-kind presentation piece
made by Asprey of London, which is England's equivalent to our Tiffany
& Co.
There is no value range for that sharpener as I obtained it through a trade, and
no other one exists that I know of. The typical model U.S. Automatic generally brings
$100 or less today in so so condition. They can bring $200 or more
depending on condition.
Other variations of the Automatic that are known include a
leather covered model, or those with different
labels
or decals on the front. Some had different labels advertising
businesses. There are also some with different bases as well.
The same company also made the pencil sharpener called the Jumbo
which was the same basic design, but a bit bigger and a bit more
complicated, and it used a slightly better design to turn the pencil
instead of using the blade to accomplish this task.
There are also a number of
foreign pencil sharpeners that are based on the same design of a revolving knife
blade. The Avanti on the left is an example of this type. There
are a number of other sharpeners that are identical to this with different names
or housings. I have
been told Avanti sharpeners date from the 60's or later.
On the right is a patented Planetary Pencil Sharpener
which is a very graphic sharpener that
comes in a few different
versions as well. The one
pictured is a
later model. The earlier models legs are attached at the
base by a bar between them. This
pencil sharpener was designed to be either a table
or wall mount and you swung the legs around to accomplish this after
removing a screw. These antique pencil sharpeners never had
a cover and are proper as shown. The shaving drawer is oftentimes
missing.
This
next sharpener is interesting because you had to provide your own
blade or pocket knife. It is marked the Johnson's Perfect
Pointer.
Some of these sharpeners originally cost
as little as $1 or less and were targeted at the masses, or
students. Other more complicated and dressed-up models, most
notably those pictured in catalogs for draftsmen and surveyors or the like
could cost upwards of $20.00 and were targeted
toward the wealthier segment of the population. In general these are
far less common and sell for a premium today. The names of some of
these are the Quail, President, The Right, Dixon, L. E. B. Perfection,
Lakeside, and a
host of others.
The Rockford
Pencil Pointer pictured on
the right. This sharpener was
named after where it was made in Illinois. It is an over designed
contraption. It is hard to imagine that
this one could outperform a pocket knife, but that is what the ads for it
claimed.
This sharpener has also seen a large drop in value from what they sold
for in the hey-day. It is still a desirable and pretty hard to find
one, and in the near mint condition this one is in would still sell for a
few hundred on a good day I would imagine.
PLEASE NOTE!! We do not buy, sell, or deal in
small figural die-cast sharpeners that were made in Honk Kong, Japan or
China. EVER!! - NEVER!!
The pencil sharpeners described are an example of the
caliber, condition and quality of these devices that I am
primarily interested
in. To see past sales results click the Office Antiques link in
the right column.
If you have quality antique or
vintage pencil sharpeners similar to those that you see
on this page that you want to sell, please contact us at AntiqBuyer@gmail.com providing me with as many details as possible.
To see examples of antique
and vintage pencil sharpeners and office antiques
that I currently have for sale please go to our sister site
at www.Patented-Antiques.com and
visit the office & scientific sale pages you will find there.
Early
Telegraphy / Telephones / Medical
& Related Antiques
We buy and can help sell Antique
Telephones, Telegraph Equipment, Antique Office Equipment and Related Antiques!!
We buy and sell early & vintage telephones, antique telegraphy
and telegraph keys, stock tickers, and
other
collectible office related antiques. The types of antique
telephones, vintage telegraph devices and office
antiques we are interested in date from the mid 1800's up through about 1920 or so.
Early telephones are becoming very difficult to find. Below are some examples of
the types and styles of vintage
telephones that we sell. The first picture is of a typical
Candlestick style phone that is often seen for sale in antique shops
and at antique shows. This one is a Kellogg and is a bit
different because of the nickel plating instead of being all
black as the most common antique telephones of this style are.
In this style of phone I am particularly interested in varieties with
different shaped bases or handles, those with dials or buttons, or old
telephones where the body has different shapes from the standard round
tube seen here. I am also interested in buying just the
handsets, and especially those with two external terminals to attach
the individual wires to instead of the single hole for one wrapped
wire as on the phone above.
This next picture to the right is also of a Kellogg telephone that is styled like
many foreign telephones that you see from France, Germany, and parts of
Eastern Europe. I am buying all early American phones from the well
known makers such as Kellogg
and
Western Electric and am even more interested in
earlier and more obscure
makers such as Stromberg Carlson, Westinghouse,
American Bell, Ericsson and a host of others.
We are also interested in early pay phones like the one pictured on the left. This style of phone is probably from the
20's or so and these also come in an array of different styles and designs
by different makers and I would be interested in any
pay phone from this era or before. I am
also interested in some antique wooden wall mount telephones in nice
original condition. The nicer and earlier the
better. If you have one you want to sell I need to see a picture of it,
and know the price in order to express any interest. I rarely
buy later common examples like those typically seen offered for sale on
eBay.
Antique Telegraph Keys & Telegraphy Related Antiques
Samuel Morse is given credit for being the first American
to successfully utilize the idea of Telegraphy in America in 1838. Although the ideas for, and some implementation of the
ideas behind telegraphy
were being experimented with and developed elsewhere and earlier, he
was the driving force and most influential American name associated with
telegraphy.
The first trans-Atlantic cable was laid in the 1860's and wires had
already been strung cross country. It was possible to communicate
with people across far reaches, instantly with the touch of a button.
Progress.
The design changes and improvements made to the "button"
or telegraph key are what I am interested in. The theory is
pretty simple. You send
Morse Code over the wires by opening and closing an electric circuit. But
like most ideas there was room for improvement and new designs, and the
process is still continuing. In a sense email is just the latest
type of telegraphy, but my interest stops a bit short of your last
keyboard, and are more focused on devices used to send Morse code in the
19th and early 20th century.
Telegraphy or antique telegraph keys come in many shapes
and sizes, and there are a lot of early examples that have a great look
and sense of design beyond the utilitarian thought of just interrupting
the electrical circuit for an instant. Very early keys went through a series of design changes
to meet the emerging technology, but given it was pretty simply just
turning on and off a circuit, the design
changes came to focus on or exhibit aspects of design and form for the
aesthetic touch. Many early keys are known as Hump-backs or
camel-backs and have a wonderfully graceful form that was lost with the
later introduction of low profile keys that used flat stock for the bar that most common
keys from after 1900 have.
Early telegraph keys usually were
offered on wooden bases, but some had nicely decorated cast iron ones
like the one just above.
Another interesting design are what are known as travel keys.
These came in small wooden, plastic or leatherette cases and could be taken on
trips or the train which
usually followed the wires or visa-versa.
After that most changes had to do with speed and trying
increase it, and that is
what designs like the Vibro-Plex and other modern speed keys are all about.
I am looking to buy almost any style of antique telegraph keys or Morse
Code senders. Later keys like the Vibro-Plex or AtoZ or Electro-key from Fresno are all much later keys,
but they have a
place in the scheme of things and their design has changed considerably
since their intial introduction.
If you have antique telephones or
telegraph related antiques like telegraph keys that you want to sell, please contact us at
AntiqBuyer@gmail.com with complete details and any written
information that is on them, a picture of them if you can, and we will get back to
you ASAP
The antiques pictured are examples
of the caliber, condition, and quality that
we primarily deal in and seek to buy.
If you have quality scientific
and office related antiques
that you want to sell,
please contact us at
AntiqBuyer@gmail.com providing me with as many details as
possible.
To see examples of many other scientific
related antiques I have sold
in the past please go to the Past Sales Results Archive links in the right
column.
To see examples of similar antiques that
we currently have for sale please go to our sister site at
www.Patented-Antiques.com and
visit the numerous sale pages you will find there.
Thank you!!
Larry & Carole
Larry & Carole Meeker
