This post about a Gossen Tippa from BillM over at Fountain Pens & Typewriters prompted me to take a look at what the TWDB says about the Gossen Tippa, to see if I could improve on it and solve the mystery of the production year of Bill’s machine. TWDB is sourced from the 1955 Herstellungsdaten, and we have copies of the 1953 (source #36) and 1962 (source #24) editions of this resource. I turned to them and found only two items of clarification: That production ended in 1958 and that the series between 1954 and 1958 were unknown.
Ending in 1958, well that’s something to go on. I wondered if I could find out the serial number that production ended at, and to that end, examined the Adler Tippa and Triumph Tippa numbers. I found that Adler began production of their version of the Tippa in 1959 at serial number 4,170,000. the 170K would fit in nicely with the end of 1958 Gossen production, but the “4” bothered me until I found a Gossen Tippa in the TWDB with the same “4” prefix. This confirmed for me that Gossen had started prefixing Tippa serials with a “4” at least before 1957, and that Adler simply continued the series they inherited from Gossen. This is further confirmed by the fact that Triumph began producing Tippas in 1961 at about the same series number that Adler was then running. The entire Tippa series from Gossen to Adler to Triumph all follows the same series, therefore Gossen Tippa production had to have ended in 1958 at 4-170,000. I extrapolated from there…
Then I went about re-dating the Gossen Tippas in the TWDB and in the end, we have this:
Sweeeeeeeeet. I love my tippas. I really should get them uploaded on. Will be nice to now match up the serials and the machines correctly.
Yes, please upload them. We could use many more! (:
Good research. You inspired me to upload my Pilot.
Am I right that the pace of new galleries has slowed down recently?
It is slower than I’d like. Woulda loved to be at 5000 or 6000 by now.
Slow season possibly :)
But yr post made me go take some snapshots and upload my Confused Corona (that may not end up as a parts machine now…)
Hey! Let me know the next Lotto numbers and you’ll have a lot of new galleries I promise! ;)
I did not intend to start you on to more work. At the same time I am heartily glad that you took time and added all the new information to the TWDB.
Looks like mine got a bit older from your comment on my blog until now with 108815 being made about 1954. Now for the second serial number and letter on the carriage rail.
Great work! Thank you!
I will be getting my Tippa and a few others uploaded. Perhaps over New Years.
Heh, it’s more like you presented an interesting and solvable mystery, and I hadn’t really examined the Gossen data before to see if it could be clarified. actually an enjoyable use of a couple free hours on a lazy Saturday. (:
The least I can do to show my gratitude is post the Tippa to the database today.
It’s nice to have a super sleuth working on de-mystifying the past. That knowledge which has been lost to time shall be found again by your hard work!
Tip-top work!
Cool! Thanks for the update. I can’t guarantee uploads, but I will at least take a look at my Tippas.
Hello Mr. Munk,
I’d like to add another serial number to the “mystery”.
I have a Triumph Tippa from 1958 with the serial 4169420.
It is a creme-browne version of the original Gossen from 1955 with brown plastic keytops (which I haven’t seen on any other later Tippa yet). And it has the old metal cover.
Sadly I can’t upload any pictures here, but I could send you one via E-Mail.
Best regards!
or you could join TWDB and upload it there so all the collectors can weigh in. (:
http://typewriterdatabase.com/
It’s been awhile since comments were added here, but I’m jumping in…. I just purchased Gossen Tippa #24751, which appears to date it to 1950. It’s red with black tombstone plastic keytops, and now the lowest s/n with those keytops in the TWDB. Cheers!
cool (:
FWIW, I’ve compiled info from the TWDB and a few other sources into a Brief History of Gossen Tippas posted at https://iartx.com/typewriters/gossen-typewriter/. Comments/corrections welcome.
Excellent, and nearly comprehensive! (:
I would note that the Tippa S continued under Royal/Litton through the late 70’s in the form of the late Royal Sahara:
https://typewriterdatabase.com/Royal.Sahara.72.bmys
and Royal Caravan:
https://typewriterdatabase.com/Royal.Caravan.72.bmys
(Made in Holland)
Also, as a Typewriter Hunter, you can add a link to your article directly on the Tippa Age List page.
Thanks! I’ve updated my article with the Royal/Litton info, and added a link to it on the Gossen Serial Number page. (Didn’t realize I could do that!) I’ve also added a link on the Hermes Serial Numbers page to a Brief History of Hermes Portables that I wrote previously. Cheers!
I just received a Gossen Tippa “lady” for Christmas! It looks like it has 2 serial numbers, 135217 and/or 132964. Tombstone keys, gullwing ribbon covers. German keyboard. I can’t find any info (so far) on a model named “lady” so I’m hoping this comprehensive article can shed some light… thank you.