1931 Mercedes Portable Typewriter | Rare Large Italic Typeface (10 CPI) & Modular Frame

📖 Product Overview: Masterpiece of 1930s German Engineering

Manufactured in 1931 (Serial No. 731XXX) by the legendary Mercedes Büromaschinen-Werke in Zella-Mehlis, Germany, this museum-grade portable is a triumph of pre-war mechanical design. Celebrated by collectors worldwide for its striking art-deco lines and revolutionary modular architecture, the Mercedes features a quick-release inner mechanism that allows the entire typing engine to be lifted directly out of its outer frame for effortless cleaning and maintenance.

What makes this particular 1931 unit exceptionally rare is its Large Italic Typeface (10 Characters Per Inch). Writing with an Italic typeface creates an elegant, calligraphic print on the page, making it ideal for creative manuscripts, personal letters, poetry, and special edition typing projects.

Meticulously overhauled , this 95-year-old machine has been deep-flushed, aligned, and mechanically restored to function like new—supplied complete with a brand-new black ribbon on its original metal spools and a complimentary premium wool-felt typewriter pad.

📊 Technical Specifications & Workshop Restoration

• Brand & Manufacturer: Mercedes Büromaschinen-Werke (Zella-Mehlis, Germany)

• Year of Manufacture: 1931 (Serial Number: 731XXX)

• Mechanical Condition: 100% Fully Functional. Deep-cleaned, chemically flushed, and precision-calibrated for smooth, effortless, and long-session typing.

• Special Mechanical Feature: Modular chassis design allows the inner typing carriage and mechanism to be unlatched and lifted out of the outer frame.

• Ribbon Fitted: Brand-new fresh black ink ribbon fitted onto original Mercedes spools. (Note: Due to the high-profile geometry of the 10 CPI Italic typeface, we recommend typing in single-color black for the sharpest, crispest print impressions).

• Complimentary Accessory: Includes a brand-new, noise-dampening wool-felt Typewriter Pad from our store (£25 value). Additional Mercedes brushes box, includes a couple of usable brushes. 

🎨 Cosmetic Condition & Visual Details

• Decals & Badging: Features original, beautifully preserved golden Mercedes decals displaying subtle, authentic vintage age-fading.

• Frame & Metalwork: Very good overall vintage condition. Shows character-rich age marks and light natural patina on metal trim rings, reflecting its genuine nearly 100-year history.

• Keytop Presentation: Original glass-topped/polymers keys with mild, charming discoloration on key legends that adds authentic period character.

✍️ Keyboard Layout & Rare Italic Typeface

• Keyboard Layout: Standard QWERTY layout, equipped with secondary German & French accent characters on the right side.

• Typeface Style: Rare Large Italic Script Font—delivering a fluid, slanted manuscript style that immediately elevates any written page.

• Font Pitch: 10 Characters Per Inch (10 CPI)—producing a bold, distinctively large, and highly legible italic print.

📋 Quick Specifications Overview

🌍 Global Shipping, Timelines & Tariff Information

🇺🇸 United States & 🇬🇧 United Kingdom Shipping (100% Free & All-Inclusive): Standard local & international shipping to the US and UK is completely free and included in the listed price. Furthermore, all US import tariffs and customs duties are fully prepaid by our workshop. There are absolutely zero hidden checkout fees, surprise border holds, or cash-on-delivery demands at your door.

🌐 International Shipping (Europe, Australia, Canada & Rest of World): We dispatch all website orders in less than 24 hours. We offer flexible, fully tracked premium shipping options calculated at checkout:

• Standard International Delivery: Safely delivered via premium air courier directly to your doorstep in 3 to 7 working days (with prompt EU dispatch and highly competitive rates to Australia and remote destinations).

• Express International Delivery Upgrade: Arrives at your door in just 1 to 3 working days for a small additional fee.

Proprietary Global Packaging Protocol: To protect this post-war British classic during international transit, we mechanically lock down the carriage rail, insulate the frame in multi-layered shock-absorbing cushioning, and suspend the entire unit within a heavy-duty, double-walled shipping box.

🤝 The "Ready-to-Write" Package & Lifetime Support

• Unbox & Start Writing: Your Imperial Good Companion arrives pre-installed with your fresh purple ink ribbon and our primary step-by-step startup instructions designed by our workshop team. Simply unbox, release the carriage lock, and begin typing immediately.

• Video Learning Academy: Your package includes a direct link to our dedicated YouTube video tutorial, teaching you exactly how to type on, care for, adjust the margins, and change ink ribbons on your specific Imperial typewriter.

• Lifetime Technical Partnership: Your relationship with our workshop does not end at delivery. Every typewriter we sell comes with lifetime technical support. You receive direct email and video-call troubleshooting access to Walid and Joujou, the celebrated restoration experts from the BBC's The Repair Shop and major Netflix productions.

📖 Have questions about Brother typewriters or machine maintenance? Read our master guide: Typewriter FAQ: The Ultimate 100 Questions Answered