No Longer Silent

I bought this burgundy Corona Silent from Derrick Brown in Brisbane some years ago. It was going begging on eBay and I couldn't resist it - there was a time when I could resist very few of Derrick's beautifully presented typewriters. Derrick always packs his machines extremely well, but unfortunately in the case of this one, Australia Post yet again succeeded, as it so often does with valuable cargo, in damaging it. 

The mainspring was broken in transit. Derrick asked me to take the spring drum off the Corona and post it to him so he could fix it. He did that and returned the part to me post-haste. However, in the meantime I had moved on to other typewriter projects, and I put the little cardboard package containing the mainspring to one side. It soon got lost. Which, of course, meant this Silent has been sitting silently, unused, for a very long time.

My shed downstairs has been turned upside down five or six times in the past two months, as close to 200 typewriters have marched out of here demanding to be returned to their cases before they go. On the most recent case dig, this week, I came across Derrick's little cardboard box. And today I bit the bullet, re-attached the mainspring and brought the Silent back to life - clacking away merrily at the top of its lungs.

Sadly, it seems that somewhere along the line I took more than the mainspring off this Corona. The left-hand platen knob is also missing, and I have no idea why I took it off or where I put it. My great fear now is that it is in one of the many boxes of spare parts I have given away this year. Oh dear, I do hope I can find it, otherwise this gorgeous looking machine it pretty much worthless. It's just too beautiful for such a cruel fate.