German Gallery Reports World Record for Rare Typewriter

Malling Hansen writing ball, $84,000.

COLOGNE, GERMANY -Strong prices for early technical antiques were noted at Auction Team Breker's specialty sale on December 1. A new world record price was set for the first typewriter that was produced in series - the 1867 Malling Hansen Writing Ball, (Lot 244) which was sold for $84,000.

An 1873 Sholes & Glidden Type Writer (Lot 235), the world's first successful typewriter, made by E. Remington & Sons, Ilion, N.Y., sold for another world record price of $33,500.

American's famous Edison Mimeograph Typewriter from 1894 (Lot 243) once again made a new world record at $12,300.

Other rare technical collector's items also followed the upward trend: A Norwegian De-Luxe-Tele-phone from 1885 (Lot 77) made a record high $9,832, and an early German Precision Telephone by Siemens & Halske, circa 1885, (Lot 73) fetched a high $3,850. A simple version of the German cipher machine of WW II, Enigma, (Lot 45), made a surprising $20,750.

Sholes & Glidden typwriter, $33,500.

A very early P(ersonal) C(omputer) - the Mark 8 (Lot 37) - marketed in June 1974, sold for $4,100, and the rare and extravagant German calculator, Saxonia, with rolltop from 1910 (Lot 30) went for $5,000.

Scientific instrument collectors pushed up the price for the German Tellurium (Planetarium), Lot 412, to $3,550; a highlight of the small dental collection was Lot 510, an early Owen chair by C. Ash, London, from 1880 (Lot 510), sold for $8,200.

A gambling machine, Imo-Horse-Race, (Lot 560) of 1935 made $1,850 and a scarce Lucky Dice from 1928 (Lot 563) went for $3,000.

The section of mechanical music instruments saw the Black Forest Musical Chair from 1890 (Lot 660) go for $2,650 and the Swiss musical box by Paillard, from 1883, reach $2,100.

In the toy section, the first tin toy car (Lot 743), the German fire truck, by Rock & Graner from 1895 sold for $3,300. A rare delivery motorbike by RSA (Rico), Spain, from 1922 (Lot 752) made $3,070, and a steam engine No 8 by Marklin, from 1950 (Lot 784), went for $1,480.

Auction Team Breker for the first time combined its traditional auction with a simultaneous eBay Live Auction. It was so successful that it will be another ongoing feature of Breker.