Underwood Typewriter Receipt

Hello, welcome to Bill’s History Corner. First, I want to say “Hi” to all my friends back in Pennsylvania.

Today I’m going to discuss typewriters, specifically the one that Coppes, Zook & Mutschler Co. purchased in May of 1912. Again, we were exploring & digging in the Coppes Commons paper collections, and we found this interesting item.

This purchase was made from the UNDERWOOD TYPEWRITER CO. INC. of CHICAGO by paying cash. I wonder if someone from the company made a special trip to the store in Chicago. Notice that there is not a shipping cost on this receipt. Someone must have been there to pick it up.

The list price of the typewriter was $102.50. The C, Z & M Co. received a 10% discount (for cash ??) even with the TERMS NET NO DISCOUNT ALLOWED stamp in red ink. Also, a $16.25 credit was received for “Cr.  Rem # 7 / 184139” (was this a Remington No. 7 Typewriter trade in that someone carried to Chicago?) for a final price of $76.00. This receipt is marked with the Underwood Typewriter Co. "PAID" stamp and signed by an M. L. Martin on May 15, 1912.

So far so good, but you know what? Typewriters need ribbons. The C, Z & M Co. was purchasing ribbons from the Chicago store at $1.00 each until they found they could purchase ribbons cheaper from an Underwood Typewriter Co. located in Fort Wayne.  At the Fort Wayne store, they could purchase a package of six ribbons for $3.75, which was a little more than half the price at Chicago. I have no idea if this Underwood typewriter was the only one at the C, Z & M Co. but they did seem to use it a lot because they purchased 27 additional ribbons for an Underwood in the following calendar year.

Look What We Found!

We were fortunate to find this Underwood Typewriter at the Dutch Lady Antique store. It seems to be the match for the one C, Z, & M Co. purchased in 1912.

This concludes the story of the Underwood Typewriter. Thanks, come back next week for more spellbinding reading.