1927 Royal 'P' Portable Typewriter

This Royal P typewriter came to me as an indirect trade for a 1956 Olympia SM3 portable typewriter at an antique store. The ladies had gotten it at an estate and because they were familiar with my collection and fascinationg for typewriters, they contacted me. The Royal P is a highly praised portable, being the predecessor of the Royal "O" which was produced during the 1930's. Mechanically they are fairly identical, although cosmetically they have rather significant differences. The P is notorious for it's boxy look, often being wrongly referred to as the "flat-top" (which in fact is the name given to the Smith-Corona Standard Portable from the late 1930's which also featured this boxy look.) The machine was produced from 1926 until 1935, and came in a wide variety of colours, sometimes with the most unusual patterns and combinations. Of course, with culture being the way it was in the early 20th century, this was a rather outstanding and robust product especially in that colour. Typewriters from that era are mostly found and were mostly sold in very neutral colours. Except for the bigger brands, such as Remington and Royal who splashed out with some unusual options back in those days. The typewriter features stand universally fit spools, which Royal only offered on it's portable machines as their standard equivalents needed to have Royal custom spools in order to feed ribbon correctly. The typewriter is rather basic, not featuring a tabulator or touch-control. It does have a colour selector and manual ribbon advance on the side of the machines. It features a carriage-shift, which because of it's light weight is operated with little effort. This typewriter was an economical option, which options such as different fonts and colours, such as vogue, script, and colours such as yellow, two-tone blue, or alligator green. The machine was in desperate need for a clean and service but otherwise was in very good condition and I put it to work immediately after I got it as it is mechanically very sound. Cosmetically it is also in very good condition. It does not suffer from the flaky paint that these typewriters seem to suffer from which is a huge bonus as that often is the issue with this model. The Royal mechanism once again confirms my love for this brand. Royal typewriters are among my favorite and this typewriter is definitely part of that. The typewriter has a rare colour-matching case as well which I have not seen before with the "P" s I have to say I am happy with that as well. The typing-experience of this typewriter is surprisingly good. The machine has a buttery feel to it, unlike the clunky touch that machines from that era had so often, especially in modern times due to aged rubber components. Although this typewriter does indeed have a hardened platen, the machine still presents a very pleasant feel to the touch. All of it's functions also work very good. I took the machine completely apart when I was cleaning it and discovered that it has been maintained very well throughout it's life as I didn't find anything but dust. Most often typewriters that have been used a lot have a lot of old erasers shavings or Tip-Ex remains in their mechanism. This typewriter had none of that. The typewriter is also virtually rust-free. All in all an excellent machine.

- Dirk