Smith Corona Sears Constellation
Double Gothic typeface
| Serial number | 6SLT 108905 |
|---|---|
| Date of manufacture | 1964 |
| Country of origin | USA |
| Layout | QWERTY |
| Two color | Yes |
The Typewriter Database says :
New 1964 Sears Constellation Model announced in Sears 1964 Fall Catalog @ $109.88 in Pica or Elite type. Artistic Script, Futura and Presidential Pica type available @ $114.88. Manufactured by Smith-Corona and similar to Smith-Corona "New 5-Series", with custom shell. Appears in catalogs from Fall 1964 through Fall 1965 @ $109.88 (Fall 1965).
Well this one is Double Gothic so I'm not sure what happened here. Was there a custom option? Was it swapped after-market? Either way, it was a lucky find on Facebook Marketplace right when I was deepest into learning about spotting typefaces. I'm not sure the collector I bought it from had noticed, if he had he didn't say anything about it and certainly didn't charge for it.
As to the year, if we believe TWDB that it was sold between '64 and '65, we can look at other Smith-Corona models in those years. That number would fit nicely into the 1963 serial number range for the Sterling (5AX) and Classic 12 (6LTV ) and the 1964 serial number range for the Galaxie II (6T2), Classic 10 (5X). Not knowing for sure what model it was actually based on, and not knowing if those serial numbers would be related anyway, I'm going to guess 1964 rather than 1965, and if I'm off by a year, I hope you'll forgive me.
I had assumed I would clean it and sell it quickly but the machine itself is already growing on me. I'm curious what I'll think of that typeface?
Condition
needs cleaning and evaluation
Provenance
Facebook Marketplace from former collector in Antioch, IL. Same seller as the Smith Corona Sterling
Notes
Elite Gothic No. 16 slugs






