Royal Mercury Typewriter

Even though I am a vintage girl at heart, I am so susceptible to trends. Vintage trends that is. Recently I saw a beautiful picture on HEATHER'S BLOG showing a picture of a vintage typewriter. Click the link to go there and see it yourself. You will love her vintage blog. I already own a few older yet pretty typewriters for display, nothing that you would actually use. When I saw her picture and how she is using the typewriter I thought "I want one of those!".

A few nights later I'm watching American Pickers and Mike mentions something about a new trend - Typewriter Clubs. Turns out groups of people meet up at a local coffee shop. They bring along their workable vintage typewriter {instead of their iPad} and sit together and tap out poetry or stories. I googled it and they do really exist. The typewriter that you bring is your status symbol. I would totally be bringing a pink model if I was doing that.

Well I put the typewriter idea on my mental "Vintage Wish List", figuring I might find one someday. Then...I went to a flea market this past weekend. There is a vendor who is selling only vintage typewriters. Her prices were high {at least I thought so}. She wanted $75 for a buff/pink one. Too steep for me. No typewriter today. Or so I thought.

Later that day Hubby suggests that we go to another flea market that isn't as pricey. More "down to earth" if you will. I'm game as I haven't spent all of my money yet and I'm secretly burning to buy something. I stumble upon this laying on a blanket on the ground. Guess I should listen to Hubs more.

As you can see it is a bit rough around the edges. Some of the keys are stained a dark brown. Nicotine maybe? The man selling it is quite the salesman. He proceeds to load up some paper and type something out. He assures me that it works. Here is the selling point though....He only wants $4. SOLD! It was a no-brainer. I take it home and Hannah {my 8 year old} is very excited about it. She enjoys playing store and library and she begins to use it immediately.

Here it is "staged" to look a lot better. a la Heather's.

I googled Royal Mercury and I learned that this model was marketed for children. It is lightweight for carrying. It types in black or red and is quiet and easy to use. It is the Cadillac model for portable typewriters made by Royal. It dates back to sometime between 1965-1975.

I am still looking for a pink typewriter to be sure, but I doubt I will be able to buy one for $4 or anything close to that! This Royal Mercury suits the bill just fine - just in case I want to go to a coffee house and type out some verses!

KayteeJane