This is an Olympia Splendid 33 portable typewriter, made in Western Germany in 1966. An ultra-portable typewriter, the Splendid 33 model manages to fit Olympia's excellent engineering into a tight, well built frame, one that is much smaller than its SM cousins (SM1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 9). As such, it is one of the best options to be found in the ultraportable class of typewriters.
But what makes this particular Splendid 33 special is its cursive print, also known as script typeface. The typeslugs have been designed to print cursive characters that join together, resulting in a rather beautiful script text. The platen's still soft rubber compliments the neat, flowing cursive writing and makes this typewriter a real pleasure to use.
This Splendid 33's internal mechanisms are of high quality, and the carriage return is smooth and steady. The chrome return arm is larger than those on many other ultra-portables, making carriage returns faster and easier on this Olympia. The typing action is very secure for an ultraportable.
The Splendid 33 is the base model of the Splendid line, and one difference between it and its Splendid 66 and 99 siblings is that there is no touch control for making slight adjustments to the tension required to depress keys. Another difference is that there is no colour selector on this Splendid 33 - it can only use ribbons of a single colour.
This typewriter has been disassembled and completely cleaned with an appropriate solvent, and lubrication has been applied where necessary. Like many vintage typewriters, there were a few spots of surface corrosion, which were treated during the disassembly and cleaning of this typewriter. These spots on the internal mechanisms are visible here and there but are not that conspicuous.
The platen is in very good shape, not hard like platens usually found on vintage and antique typewriters. The rubber rollers are in excellent condition and, along with the platen, have been cleaned and renewed with rubber rejuvinator. All mechanical features found on this typewriter are in working order and include carriage shift, shift lock, margins, margin release, backspace, line space regulator, silent return, platen detente release, paper support and bell.
Cosmetically, this Splendid 33 is in good condition, with some age-related marks here and there. The paint has been cleaned, polished and waxed with museum-grade microcrystalline wax. There is some slight age-related discolouration to the cream-coloured paint, but this does not detract much from the typewriter's overall appearance. There are also some scratches and marks to the left side of the ribbon cover and the left and right sides.
The plastic keytops are in good condition, though the "A", and "B" keytops have some small marks on them. The front of the spacebar also has a small mark on it. All keytops have been cleaned and have received a plastic polish. The green plastic platen knobs are in very good condition and have also been polished with plastic polish.
The "Olympia" and "Splendid 33" decals on the ribbon cover remain in good condition with a little loss of silver colouring to the letters. All chrome finishing has been polished to a shine and is in excellent shape.
This typewriter comes with its original leatherette case, which has been cleaned and is in good condition despite some marks to the interior and exterior. The handle fixings exhibit a few spots of corrosion but have been cleaned and polished. The zip closes, though it is missing a few teeth here and there - a bit of finessing may be required in such areas, but I have not found it difficult to close. The handle is in good shape and can be used to carry the closed case.
A new ribbon has been installed, and print quality is very good. As mentioned above, this Splendid 33 only makes use of single-colour ribbons and is currently fitted with a black one. It prints elite script (Script No. 69), at 11 cpi (characters per inch).
The typewriter will be carefully packaged in a well-sized cardboard box with signed-for delivery and insurance.
