Olivetti Valentine

£0.00 GBP

Olivetti Valentine typewriters were designed by Ettore Sottsass and launched on Valentine's Day in 1969 and quickly became an Italian design classic . This one was made in 1971 and is the iconic bright red colour with orange spool covers and black keys and is in good working order .It has the usual Valentine logo on the front and the Olivetti logo on the back right and has the standard Olivetti "elite" sized font giving you 11 letters to the inch.

This typewriter has been professionally cleaned ,serviced, adjusted and tested . It is in full working order and is fitted with a new Group 4 ribbon so its all ready for you to start typing on !

We can supply Group 4 typewriter ribbons from £4.95 each including postage. Available in plain black, red/black and a range of Universal ribbons in other colour options. A ribbon will last you a long time and to give you an idea , in an office environment with someone using a typewriter professionally a ribbon would last them around 3 months . 

It has some very minor surface scratch marks mainly on the top section above the keys . This is very common with this model as the body rubs when put into the case and taken out over the years . There are also a few age related marks at the ends of the carriage and to the space bar and some light discolouration mainly at the front right hand top corner.

The case is in a good functional condition with the two rubber closures and handle all sound . The case has no cracks or chips but does show signs of wear and discolouration in places and has some small marks mainly on one side.

 Ettore Sottsass in particular worked a lot with Olivetti, and in the 1960s he travelled extensively throughout India and the U.S. picking up the influences which culminated in the hugely successful Valentine Typewriter. Sottsass was particularly enamoured of the Pop Art movement and incorporated quirky eye catching pop art inspired elements into many of his designs. 

This machine can be found in many collections of industrial design and is on permanent display in the MOMA – Museum of Modern Art in New York. Whilst typists may dispute its ability to function as a great writing machine, it remains a prime example of Italian design from the ‘plastic revolution’ which took place in Italian industrial design at the same time.

In this period, Italian design experienced a renaissance which gave birth to a whole new generation of products, many of which made the names of a number of designers and helped Italy come to be regarded as the hub of the new design movement. 

This is an iconic typewriter design in a good working condition . We also include 4 photo copied pages of the instruction booklet. 

The price includes delivery anywhere within the UK .

Item Price includes delivery anywhere in the UK.

We ship worldwide, rates are calculated on volumetric weight at checkout. Read more about our costs and guidelines on our shipping page.

"My Olivetti arrived a couple days ago. Got a chance to test it out and it works like a dream (you wouldn’t guess it was nearly half a century old). Thank you for including the original metal spools, it adds a great touch to the machine. Looking forward to adding another typewriter to the collection sometime soon..." - Jake

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