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  1. The case looks structurally good and usable. Liquid dish soap and a toothbrush can do wonders

    1. Heh, I’ll take better pics of the original case later – it’s much worse than that pic suggests. The machine sat in water for some time, zipper rusted solid and the cloth it attaches to disintegrated to threads and ripped off the bottom half, the vinyl covering is brittle and cracking, the cardboard inside warped and moldy. The thing’s probably a health hazard.

      Luckily the machine is made mostly of some alloy that resists rust very well. :D

  2. Congratulations again! I’m sure it is easier to carry this machine in a briefcase than in a cake box… ;)

    1. I’ve been looking for the right machine for this case for a year now – a Rocket is just a few mm too tall and up until now I didn’t have anything flatter that wasn’t also longer (Skyriter). The Kolibri fits perfectly. Yet another “gotta have it” factor :D

  3. Congrats, Ted! The sleekest machine ever made. And I see it has the requisite scuff across the ribbon cover where the return lever has scraped. Mine’s like that. I’m thinking of wedging some pliable plastic into the return lever to see if this will prevent any further scrapings.

  4. Ooh, congratulations, happy to hear you finally own a Kolibri, Now I really need land one!

  5. Glückwünsche Kamerad Munk!

  6. Sooooo beautiful in the case, congrats Ted! :D

  7. I would sterilise and then frame that case – it is beautiful, if flawed. How the Typewriter Angel does light your way! Does it have the cooling fins on the back?

  8. Super-duper cool. Top of my fantasy collection! I suppose I could start with a brief-case though!

  9. Hooray! Refurbished by a pro and a great back story to boot. So awesome :)

  10. O my! That looks just wonderful together! How the hell did you have the patience to wait for an hour? Luckily it turned out okay, otherwise you would really have regretted the wait.

  11. I’m confused by the SN shift in 1961? Mine has a pretty high SN (691XXX), it has a QWERTY keyboard, labelled “Made in Germany” in English and marked for export. I’m trying to get an idea whether I am older than this machine or it is older than I am. Ideas, Sir?

    1. well, I do know that a lot of the “green keys/green/gray paint” Kolibri N’s were imported into the US between 1962-64, but it’s unknown if these were new production or leftover stock. We have no new info on the serial number jump, though.

  12. I hope this beautiful machine from Germany has served you well for years now. The briefcase for it is just too cool. Sometime it would be kind of interesting to see how the margins–are there tabs?–work. But, anyway, great find!

    1. Margins are just sliders in the back like most flat portables. No tabulator on an N model.

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