I was sort of looking for a functional portable typewriter that I could refer to while I restored the Corona 4. When I work on my Oliver, I wish I had a second functional Oliver to which I could compare mechanisms in action.
I found this typewriter and she is not only functional – she is exquisitely pristine.
1938 Corona Sterling
Serial Number: 2A 39626
As Ron Burgundy would say, “Boy, that escalated quickly.” We now have a family of four typewriters – two nonfunctional.
Spice Girls (L to R): Posh Spice, Biggie Spice, Trampy Spice, Old Spice
Drink of Choice (L to R): dry martini, black coffee, whiskey neat and a cigarette, kerosene
My Corona Sterling is the Garbo of typewriters. She appears to have retired soon after she rolled off the factory assembly line. She must have spent most of her life in the seclusion of her case because she is remarkably well-preserved despite being 77 years old. There are some small nicks where the carriage return lever hit the cover plate, some decal fading, a few scratches, and some tape residue, but she really is in superb shape.
However. I don’t know if this Corona Sterling will stay long with us. Frankly, she makes me a bit uncomfortable. I can’t touch her without feeling that I am somehow sullying her. My typewriter tastes lean toward the junky and broken – she is just too fine and clean for our house.
So she sits mute and beautiful in my living room – until you touch the keys and she whirs into life – like a ROBOT.
In any case, I need her for the time being so that I can examine her inside workings while I try to fix that Corona 4.
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- The Floating Shift key
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- The old timey USB port
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- Small nicks where the carriage return lever hit the cover plate
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- Serial number location
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- Posh Spice
myoldtypewriter 
These are really lovely machines aren’t they? I just treated mine to a vintage silk ribbon!
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I think my Sterling deserves a silk ribbon – a lavender-colored one.
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Use that typewriter, Ma’am! I have a 1945 Sterling and it’s one of my favourites to use. These things were the workhorse of their day, and having such a beautiful machine and not using it is like having a prize greyhound and not letting it run. These models are rock-solid.
Just my take.
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She just makes me a little uneasy. I feel like I have to don conservators’ gloves when I handle her.
This Robert Messenger post captures a bit of how I feel:
http://oztypewriter.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-typewriter-i-will-never-touch.html
But I will fire her up today, as I want to experiment with the touch selector settings.
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Posh was always my favourite Spice girl! Gorgeous!
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I’m a little nervous that my Corona Sterling will run off with a professional footballer – or my refrigerator.
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Gorgeous! Congratulations on finding one in such brilliant condition.
Apart from the aesthetics, the mechanism is inspired too. Very light typebar action, fast from the small return spring at the guide and a no-bounce locking.
Types as good as it looks!
Again congrats and enjoy 🙂
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She is a well-preserved beauty and she types like a dream. My only issue with her (besides her being Miss Perfect) is that I hear a low frequency twanging sound when I type. My husband cannot hear this strange thrum, so I must be going into dog-hearing territory. I just ordered a proper typewriter pad from Richard Polt’s site, so perhaps that will absorb the strange sound. None of my other five typewriters make this sound (that no one else can hear but me).
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Took my Sterling out, you’re right! Never really noticed it before, there is a bit of a twang at times. Suspect the bar that holds all the springs resonates sometimes, it has about the same frequency when tapped. (The anglebar right in front under the ribbon-cover. The one that also holds the shift-springs.)
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The bar with springs seems to be the source. Perhaps that sound is characteristic of typewriters with “Floating Shift”.
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Must be part of the design – twanging springs. The part does look a bit like a harp, come to think of it. Just like return-lever scratching the cover is inevitable, built into the design…
(Very nearby serials by the way, machine 2A 39541 ended up in Holland 🙂
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Should your mother ever wish to part with Posh Spice, I am seeking one of her ilk. Totally in love with her lines and mechanism.
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I’ll check with her, but I don’t think the Corona Sterling is leaving her loving embrace.
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