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Tuesday, 22 November 2011

Montana Luxe portable typewriter: Such a beautiful Baby

I’ve lost count of the number of typewriter companies (many of them relatively short-lived) which were allowed to build Paillard machines – there are just so many variations of the Hermes Baby out there, it would be hard to keep track of them all.
Still, I’m most proud to show off my Montana Luxe, especially because of its unique bright red keyboard.
I have long been drawn to the more distinctive and later Montana design, perhaps better known in the US as the Carlton.
But while the Luxe is just another Baby, it is nonetheless a very beautiful Baby. And great to type with, too.
On his Portable Typewriter Reference Site, Will Davis says the Turin typewriter company Montana “was launched [in 1950] for the singular purpose of manufacturing perfect license-built copies of the early version of the Hermes Baby.
“Montana appears to have produced a decent, but not significant, number of machines overall, and cannot be considered anything but an also-ran in typewriter history.”
A later Montana Baby is this one:
at

7 comments:

  1. shordzi22 November 2011 at 16:59

    A very nice Baby indeed! Is it not too hot to type on it? I see it even speaks Deutsch. What's the serial number?

    I am constantly looking for new variants for my page on the Hermes Baby: http://typewriters.ch/collection/hermes_baby.html

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  2. notagain22 November 2011 at 17:15

    That's interesting and cool.

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  3. Robert Messenger22 November 2011 at 17:15

    Hi Georg. Thanks. It should be too hot to type on a fiery red keyboard, especially since we're supposed to be coming into summer down here. But it feels like we're going to get another La Nina. I'm at work at the moment. I'll look up the serial number and post it as soon as I get a chance. Regards, Robert M

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  4. Bill M22 November 2011 at 23:51

    Very very nice machine! I have to have one. Especially since it has the same name as my favorite state.

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  5. Richard P23 November 2011 at 02:24

    Dramatic typewriter! I have a Gromina with keys about that color. It's not on my web site yet. (My collection list there is badly in need of updating.)

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  6. Machines of Loving Grace23 November 2011 at 04:06

    Way down near the bottom of Georg's excellent Hermes Baby compendium, you'll find a Turin-made Viking name variant that I turned up. It's a rebadge of a rebadge!

    It does differ from other Baby's in one unusual way: the ribbon selector switch is situated above the keys and not alongside them.

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  7. Robert Messenger23 November 2011 at 14:04

    Thank you Georg, notagain, Bill, Richard and Alan for your comments. Bill, not sure how you'll get one, but they must be out there somewhere!

    In answer to Georg's query, the serial number is 39834

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