You’ve been warned.

I would comment that its overpriced for what it is, but thanks to the likes of MyTypewriter.com and MrTypewriter.com, our local Craigslist market is lousy with ads for $250 Royals and $300 Smith-Coronas. The last Valentine I saw advertised locally ON CL — sans case, sans handle, mind you — was offered at $450.

I’m not bitter about the machine; I’m just upset at its use as a means to get a Fast Buck. (Similar for the keychopper’s “craft,” I suppose.) For someone looking for a pretty, modern object d’art to plunk in their living room, $450 may not seem like a lot of cash. For a Useful Typing Machine it’s absurd. I think it’s my Midwestern roots showing through, but I tend to venerate the practical above the (perceived) beautiful.

As to the “typing trashcan”…

Not all of us despise the Valentine. It’s certainly no SM4 to type on, but it’s adequate, and I happen to like the way it looks.

I think it’s become fashionable among typewriter collectors to heap disdain upon the Valentine because so many non-collectors venerate it. I see it in every collecting circle (“Speed Graphics are junk.” “Thelonious Monk was a hack.”)

I have a longer response to this mindset, but it’s only half-formulated. It may end up being a typecast someday–written on an Olivetti Valentine.

Normally I’d say yes, you’re going straight to hell. This blog post, though, is close enough to confession – as long as you also rattle some beads. Ten Hail Marys and two Our Fathers, please, as long as you don’t make a rosary out of the rest of those snipped keys.

I absolve you.

signed,

Sister Mary Catfish

I’m surprised the chopper even bothered with the plastic keys. The “jewelry” that they make can’t attain even half the gaucheness of that made with glass keys.

So aside from the sense of completeness, why restore the infamous typing trashcan?

(Feeling snarky)