SOLD! Restored Gray 1953 Royal Quiet De Luxe Manual Typewriter, New Platen, Vintage #1438

Make: Royal
Model: Quiet Deluxe
Year of Manufacture: 1953 (Made in United States)
Serial Number: Hidden for Buyer’s Privacy
Font Size: 12 characters/inch; Character Height: 0.125″ (Max)
Font Style: Serif (Elite)
Size: 11 1/2″ x 12″ x 5 1/2″
Weight: 13 lbs 10 oz
Typewriter: Like-New Restored (Mint) Condition; Anti-Glare Wrinkle Gray (original color). All Metal Construction. Guaranteed excellent mechanical operation.
Case: Professionally cleaned.
Includes: 1 Brand-New Black Ribbon Installed, Royal Operating Instructions (High-Quality Color Reproduction of Vintage Original).

Royal Typewriter Features:

* Manual Margin & Tab Sets * Single, Double and Triple Line Spacing settings * Variable line spacer * Magic Margin * Automatic ribbon reverser * Bi-color ribbon selector * Basket shift * Touch selector * And more!

What are the differences between Arrow, Quiet, Quiet DeLuxe and Aristocrat models?

Minor differences. Mainly in key design/placement. These models were made concurrently. Some machines have Tab and Margin Release swapped. Others have rectangular shift keys instead of round shift keys.

History of Royal Arrow and Quiet De Luxe:

The Royal Arrow was a portable typewriter, made by the Royal Typewriter Company, from 1939 until 1959. The first-generation Arrow and Quiet De Luxe were the first Royal models to feature Magic Margin. The first generation of Royal Arrow was manufactured from 1939 until 1948, with a gap in production due to World War II. It was the typewriter of choice for Ernest Hemingway.

In the late 1940s, the Royal Arrow and Quiet Deluxe were redesigned by Henry Dreyfuss. It was redesigned again in 1950, with the corners rounded off. By 1955, it was being offered in a choice of six colors and gray. According to The Typewriter Database, the last Royal Arrow and Quiet Deluxe typewriters were made in 1957. Most typewriters called the Arrow and Quiet Deluxe were made in the United States.

According to Machines of Loving Grace, an online museum of typewriters by a prolific collector, the Quiet Deluxe was a refinement of the earlier Standard and DeLuxe models. “The DeLuxe is very similar to the Portable Standard in style and function. It has the addition of a tabulator, a paperguide, and of course its signature ‘crinkle’ finish and chromed bands. Down the road, the DeLuxe would be merged with the short-lived Quiet model and become one of Royal’s most popular models, the Quiet DeLuxe.”, and the Quiet Deluxe was later updated to add a cover release, a carriage-return tension adjustment, a remaining-paper guide, and relocated tab adjustments. The Royal Typewriter Company produced a special edition of the Quiet Deluxe with gold-plated accents, “Some of these golden models were given as awards to Royal Typewriter company employees. Others were given to high school students who were winners of writing competitions sponsored by Royal Typewriter.”

One of these is reported to have been commissioned by author Ian Fleming “After finishing the first draft of Casino Royale, Ian Fleming rewarded himself with a Royal Quiet Deluxe Portable gold-plated typewriter, which he used to write the rest of his books and short stories. Fleming bought the gold-plated Royal Quiet Deluxe Portable typewriter from a New York dealer in 1952”. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, this typewriter is the world’s most expensive: “Ian Fleming’s gold-plated typewriter, which was commissioned by the James Bond writer in 1952, was sold for £56,250 ($90,309) at Christie’s, London, UK on 5 May 1995.” Author Ernest Hemingway also used a QuietDe Luxe.”

A manual Royal typewriter that once belonged to Ernest Hemingway, made around 1940 and still in its well-worn leather carrying case, sold for $2,750 at a multi-estate sale held June 24th, 2007 by Four Seasons Auction Gallery” in Atlanta, Georgia, although it is not clear whether this typewriter was a Quiet De Luxe or the very-similar Arrow model that Hemingway also used.