The Olivetti page has been completely redone. With the addition of OMEF 1980 and a re-examination of Schramm 1962, quite a few numbers have changed and a lot of models have been added. Additionally, I’ve added Platen Diameters and some notes from OMEF 80 that state in no uncertain terms that dating an Olivetti from the serial number past 1978 is pretty much impossible.
That bit about “past 1978” is the bad news. The good news is that we’ve made *some* inroads on Lettera 22 serial numbers, Added or expanded on Linea 88, Linea 98, Linea 98 Special, Studio 45, Lettera 25, Lettera 31, Lettera 32, Praxis 48, Editor 3, 3C, 4, 4C, 4 Special, 4C Special, 5, Lexicon 90, 90C, Lettera Electric and Lexicon 83DL. I’ve also added a huge and badly needed swath of new numbers for Studio 42 and 44!
There are still some holes, and the whole Lettera 22 issue is still up for grabs as OMEF and Schramm still disagree between 1954 and 1956. I’m feeling that Schramm may have those years right, or alternately there were two different serial numbering schemes in those years from two different factories. Schramm makes more sense given some of the L22 examples in the gallery database. If you have a Lettera 22, please re-check your serial number against the new list. You may find it now makes a little more sense.
http://typewriterdatabase.com/olivetti.56.typewriter-serial-number-database
Also, OMEF 80 had all new sections on Addo (never heard of them, but apparently related to Facit somehow), and Silver Reed complete with new serial numbers, so I added them as well:
http://typewriterdatabase.com/silverreed.688.typewriter-serial-number-database
http://typewriterdatabase.com/addo.687.typewriter-serial-number-database
UPDATE: Found a swath of Olivetti Lettera 36 serial numbers in source #25 (an east german manufacturer list), since they were apparently manufactured between the late 70’s and early 80’s by Robotron. I’ve now added these to the Olivetti list.
Great job, Ted!
I appreciate that this is a very old posting, but have been trying to unravel the history of the Glasgow produced Lettera 22 models. Being in the UK these are widely available and I have had around 15 or so through my hands. One of my latest purchases appears to be an early Glasgow model with a serial number in the low 60000 numbers, from 1954? There are a few variations on the subsequent production model so I now wonder if Glasgow only started making the Lettera 22 in 1954?