One month ago, I won a bid on Ebay for this beautiful Erika 5. Not only is the machine in stellar condition, but it has an italic typeface (a first for me). The case, likewise, is in excellent condition. Having come from Germany, it was held up in customs in New York for quite some time, and I couldn’t help but wonder if security was beefed up because my mail goes through the same post office as the letter bombs from that Florida nut who mailed bombs to politicians. In any case, I picked up the package today, having missed the delivery on Friday. I naturally was very worried about such a long trek for this machine. I knew the seller would expertly package it, but the postal service isn’t always careful–especially near the holidays. Well, it was so well packaged that it could handle just about any carelessness. Marvel at this packaging:
Now marvel at this beauty unveiled:
The stained keys go very well with the body’s color. The serial number dates it at 1934. The italic typeface is wonderfully quirky–or qwertzy, in this case. Best of all, I have little to no cleaning to do and the keys and slugs work smoothly. Most of my typewriters come from local hunts. I happily made an exception for this Erika.
The Untimely Typewriter:Daily Writings Against the Tides of Distraction 
What a beautiful typewriter 😊
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Congratulations on the fine typewriter. The typefaces is beautiful as is the typewriter. Thanks for posting it. I now know the model of one that I bought several years ago while in Florida. Mine is not is such great shape though.
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Thank you. I could not imagine finding such an exotic machine in Florida. Something tells me that you found them all.
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Does your have an italic typeface? I wonder how unusual that is with this model.
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What an excellent packing job. And cool machine!
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I think it’s the star of my portables. Javier was the seller. In Berlin, I think. Great guy.
I have another European typewriter on the way. I had never heard of the model before, but its design caught my interest. I looked it up. Only three sites knew of the typewriter: your site, Davis’ site, and Messenger’s site. It’s the Meteor (Patria). It’s a looker.
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What an absolutely gorgeous machine! And wonderful packing; and unpacking notes too. The typeface is truly lovely. I have one italic, ( a Remington quiet riter) and I will never part with it! Thanks for sharing 🙂
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Thanks. I really love the look of it, and it types very well. One fun idiosyncrasy is that the “c” type bar was replaced with a bigger italic type face. Adds personality.
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