This is an uncommon blue Olympia Splendid 99 from 1960. An ultra-portable typewriter, the Splendid 99 model manages to fit Olympia's excellent engineering into a tight, well built frame, one that is much smaller than its SM cousins. As such, it is one of the best options to be found in the ultraportable class of typewriters. The Splendid 99 is the top model of the Splendid line (33, 66, 99) and has a touch regulator, chrome finishing, sound-deadening material and even adjustable shift springs, which increase or decrease the tension needed to shift the carriage for upper case characters.
This Splendid 99's internal mechanisms are of high quality, and the carriage return is smooth and steady. The typing action is light, and there is a touch control beneath the ribbon cover if you'd like to make slight adjustments to the tension required to depress keys. The chrome return arm is larger than those on many other ultra-portables, which some typists prefer.
This typewriter has been disassembled and completely cleaned with an appropriate solvent, and lubrication has been applied where necessary. The platen is in good shape, as are the rubber rollers. The crumbling sound-deadening foam on the side panels has been replaced with new material (see last photo). All mechanical features found on this typewriter are in working order and include carriage shift, shift lock, margins, margin release, backspace, line space regulator, silent return, platen detente release, paper support, adjustable shift springs and bell.
Cosmetically, this Splendid 99 is in good condition apart from two imperfections to the left side of the ribbon cover. There is a small dent in the top of the left side of the ribbon cover as well as a chip to the paint caused by years of the return arm rubbing against the ribbon cover, a common imperfection on Splendid typewriters. These imperfections are reflected in the price. The rest of the paint is in very good condition and has been cleaned, polished and waxed with museum-grade microcrystalline wax. The off-white keytops and platen knobs have been individually cleaned and are in good shape. There is some light age-related wear to some of the keytops.
This typewriter comes with its original vinyl case, which has been cleaned. Its exterior is in good condition, with a working zip, sturdy handle and shiny handle fixings, which have been polished. The zip had come away from one of the back corners, but this has been carefully restitched. There are some stains to the inside of the case and some other age-related wear.
A new ribbon has been installed, and print quality is very good. This Splendid 99 prints elite in black and red, at 11 cpi (characters per inch).
