Refurbished IBM Selectric III - 50th Anniversary Edition -Truly a Collector Item

Description

Retail Value: Originally sold by IBM for ,195
This is a
Refurbished IBM Selectric III - 50th Anniversary Edition -Truly a Collector Item
, w/warranty
We highly recommend you buy the OPTIONAL "Lubricating kit" for any sticking keys stated below under options. You have to remember these IBM's are 40 - 60 years old and any OLD piece of equipment needs more maintenance, more attention, more care than a new machine of any kind. Oil dries, sitting without use dries - these machines NEED a lube now and again.
We usually ship within a week (that's usually how long a refurb takes) in spite of the "handling time" stated
IBM didn't make many of these so they are EXTREMELY hard to find
especially one in this mint condition
Distinctive
with it's Gold Tone "50th Anniversary Model" IBM Badge - see pic 2
Color: ONE OF A KIND - IBM dark gray with a hint of bluish/green - never done one like it since
Dual Pitch machine
w/so called "self correction" key
sound barrier over carrier/element
original paper guide that works
with an IBM Selectric III bicycle ribbon as standard - buy some more while you're at it (our ebay item #111828061281 - cut and paste into ebay search bar)
This listing includes an original IBM Selectric Personal user manual - see pic 6
includes a 90 day parts, labor, & total satisfaction warranty on it's quality and refurbishment
It works and looks perfect
see other options below this listing
Price & shipping (we lose money on our pack and ship cost) shown are FIRM.
Ship weight 56 lbs - double boxed on foam corners
COMPLETELY REFURBISHED - WOW - very nice typewriter. This
Refurb IBM Selectric Personal Typewriter w/self correction key-Truly a Collector's Item w/warranty
,
It will be completely refurbished by a tech (usually takes about 2 days to complete the refurbishing)  with over 40 years of typewriter experience, new ribbon, and all parts cleaned inside and out, all features checked, and will be in perfect operational condition, and comes with our 90 day parts, labor, and total satisfaction warranty. After we finish with them they are all in the same condition-perfect operationally, however due to age they all show wear (scratches & rubbing mars) normal for a typewriter of this age. We will ship what we have ready to go.
We sell MORE Refurbished warrantied typewriters (and all typewriter supplies) than EVERYONE on ebay COMBINED - we KNOW HOW to pack and ship them for safe arrival - we have THE INDUSTRY BEST WARRANTY - Stick with us !!!
If any of these optional items are wanted, let us know when you buy, and we will send you a "revised Paypal invoice" to pay by.
OPTIONAL $ 39.95 - "Lubricating kit" for all IBM Selectrics - includes a large can of LPS1 lubricating oil, pictures and instructions on where and how to apply - see our separately listing for this, our ebay item #
123926378456
OPTIO
NAL $ 295 up-charge for This typewriter in
ANY
exterior RE-PAINT color you want - SEE PICS 8 - 11 AS EXAMPLES)
. Name the color or if you want REAL accuracy send us a color swatch of your desired color (it will be pretty darn close to exact). This will show the original IBM texture expected on all IBM Selectric products.
OPTIONAL $ 29.95 for one used type font element - our ebay item # 111632871815 - click buy it now
OPTIONAL $ 49.95 for one NEW type font element - our ebay item # 110345448835 - click buy it now
OPTIONAL $ 29.95 for a new 3-pak ribbons for above
OPTIONAL $ 49.95 for dust cover for Sel III measuring 21"w x 16"d x 7"h
OPTIONAL $ 25.95 for clear Xerox copy of entire original user operating / user manual for this make/model
OPTIONAL $ 35.95: for a vintage authentic original user operating / user manual for this make/model - soft bound - no longer in print -
these are hard to find
OPTIONAL $ 75.95: for re-print original user operating / user manual for this make/model - Soft bound w/sturdy spine, by third party, the Cadillac of manuals.
ADD-ON : take advantage of FREE shipping of all IBM supplies with this order. If you need/want extra ribbons, correction, dust cover, font printwheels, etc. NOW IS THE TIME TO ORDER.
PLEASE – With all IBM Selectric Typewriters
•
Keep in mind these are OLD – some up to 40 years old
•
When received – warm to room temperature for 24 hours
BEFORE power on
•
Keep at room temp for all use – see #2 above before each use (especially in cold office buildings when heat is turned off at nights.)
•
Power OFF when through with each use – DO NOT leave power on overnight – will burn motor out.
•
The Selectric II & III have 3,000 moving parts – DO NOT bump, drop, or handle rough – it can throw any number of parts out of alignment
A little History:
Armonk, NY, USA - 27 Jul 2011:
The IBM (NYSE: IBM) Selectric typewriter turns 50 on July 31, commemorating a design icon that revolutionized the day-to-day lives of office workers around the world. The Selectric's half-century birthday coincides with IBM's Centennial year and the release of a new U.S. postage stamp honoring the Selectric as an icon of design.
The IBM Selectric became an instant sensation upon its debut on July 31, 1961, and remained the typewriter found on most office desks until the brand was retired 25 years later, in 1986. With 2,800 parts, many designed from scratch, it was a major undertaking even for IBM, which had been in the typewriter business since the 1930s and was already a market leader.  The Selectric marked a radical change from previous typewriter designs, and it took IBM seven years to work out the manufacturing and design challenges before it went on sale.
The Selectric typewriter was a game-changer in many ways:
Its unique "golf ball" head allowed typists' fingers to fly across the keyboard at unprecedented speed. An expert typist could clock 90 words per minute versus 50 with a traditional electric typewriter.
The golf ball moved across the page, making it the first typewriter to eliminate carriage return and reducing its footprint on office desks.
Interchangeable golf balls equipped with different fonts, italics, scientific notations and other languages could easily be swapped in.
With magnetic tape for storing characters added in 1964, the Selectric became the first (albeit analog) word-processor device.
The Selectric also formed the basis for early computer terminals and paved the way for keyboards to emerge as the primary way for people to interact with computers, as opposed to pressing buttons or levers.  A modified Selectric could be plugged into IBM's System/360 computer, enabling engineers and researchers to interact with their computers in new ways.
"The Selectric typewriter, from its design to its functionality, was an innovation leader for its time and revolutionized the way people recorded information," said Linda Sanford, Senior Vice President, Enterprise Transformation, IBM, who was a development engineer on the Selectric. "Nearly two decades before computers were introduced, the Selectric laid the foundation for word-processing applications that boosted efficiency and productivity, and it inspired many user-friendly features in computers that we take for granted today."
The Selectric's elegant, curvaceous form was a hallmark of IBM's industrial design and product innovation. It was created by Eliot Noyes, the famed architect and industrial designer who served as IBM's consulting designer for 21 years.  The Selectric is featured in the new "
Pioneers of American Industrial Design" stamp series
from the U.S. Postal Service, which cites Noyes as among 12 important industrial designers who helped shape the look of everyday American life in the 20th century. The stamp displays Noyes' name and an image of the typewriter.
A Bellwether of Corporate Design
Design has long been a tenet of corporate culture at IBM, whose Chairman Thomas J. Watson, Jr. declared that "
good design is good business
."  Watson hired Noyes in 1956 as a design consultant, and together they created the first corporate design program that would shape thinking around corporate design and culture for decades to come.  The program encompassed IBM's products, buildings, logo and marketing material.  Noyes brought in a wide variety of artists, designers and architects – including Paul Rand, Charles and Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen and Isamu Noguchi – who created many lasting icons of corporate design, from the T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., to IBM's instantly-recognizable eight-bar logo.
"IBM has always believed that corporate design has to be purposeful," said Lee Green, vice president of Brand Experience and Strategic Design at IBM.  "Design is not about cosmetics and decoration.  It's about reflecting all aspects of our brand, from the solutions we provide to clients, to the corporate culture and values that permeate our organization."
The Selectric has been highlighted as one of IBM's top 100 milestones in the company's century-long history; for more information, go
here
.  IBM's commitment to "good design is good business," is another IBM historic milestone; for more information, go
here
.   For more information about the Selectric stamp from the U.S. Postal Service, go
here.
Released on July 31, 1961, the original Selectric was unarguably a game-changer in the typewriter space. The device--which took seven years to develop, due mainly to its 2,800 parts--featured a "golf ball" head that moved across the page as users typed. Thanks to that head, the typewriter was the first of its kind to eliminate carriage return, IBM said.
The Selectric has also been tapped as an inspirational predecessor to today's word-processing programs. Users could add different golf balls to the device, allowing them to type with different fonts, in italics, and even in other languages. Magnetic tape, which came to the device in 1964, allowed users to store characters.
"The Selectric typewriter, from its design to its functionality, was an innovation leader for its time and revolutionized the way people recorded information," Linda Sanford, senior vice president for Enterprise Transformation at IBM, as well as a development engineer on the Selectric, said in a statement. "Nearly two decades before computers were introduced, the Selectric laid the foundation for word-processing applications that boosted efficiency and productivity, and it inspired many user-friendly features in computers that we take for granted today."
After it was introduced, the Selectric became a staple in offices across the world, thanks to its slender design (for the time) and vastly improved typing speed. According to IBM, expert typists on the Selectric could offer up 90 words per minute, easily besting the standard 50 words per minute those same folks were tallying on other typewriters.
CNET News managing editor Jon Skillings was one of those people who benefited from the Selectric. In a 2004 CNET story that noted it had been
175 years since the first typewriter was patented
, Skillings thought back to the all the things IBM's Selectric brought to the table.
"My first exposure to 'advanced' word-processing technology was the IBM Selectric, with its whirring, hair trigger, head banger of a typing element," he said. "After I'd spent most of college plunking away at an easily gummed-up Olivetti manual, the motorized speed and authority of the Selectric definitely made it easier to crank out those last few (desperate) papers."
The Selectric typewriter was discontinued in 1986 after 25 years of success. According to IBM, by 1986, the company sold 13 million Selectric typewriters worldwide. A minute fraction of a fraction of that number put out for the 50th anniversary edition.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< see all other makes and models in our ebay store (Click here
other items
) all categories on left.
Sign up for my email newsletters
by adding my eBay Store to your Favorites
Be sure to add me to your
favorites list
!