Is eBay always the obvious choice?
When the Where To Sell website was but a glint in our corporate eye, we came across various items which – at first glance – seemed obviously destined for eBay. However, a little more enquiry suggested that there might be alternatives.
We were asked about who might be interested in marketing this fine 1939 Remington portable typewriter.
It seemed to us that the world is awash with old typewriters – but apparently this particular item has wartime provenance, the value of which was thought to be unlikely to be reflected on eBay.
Christie’s have had considerable success with typewriters – for example John Updike’s and Cormac McCarthy’s – and apparently PIH achieved $65,000 for Ernest Hemingway’s.
Lewis Carrolls’s machine made £6500 at auction. (Did we even know that he used a typewriter?)
But – surprisingly – Laurie Lee’s beaten up Corona fetched only £680.
So before putting that old machine on eBay or consigning it to the tip, it might be worth contacting your nearest auction house or typewriter specialist. Start by ticking the Typewriter category on Where To Sell.
