1970 Olivetti Valentine

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Italian and British Designers’ Delight!

Designed by Italian Ettore Sottsass and Briton Perry King, this is the most famous of Olivetti's typewriters. It was introduced by Olivetti in Barcelona, Spain, on Saint Valentine's Day, February 14, 1969. It is now part of New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) permanent collection, though not always on display.

The Olivetti Valentine was a whimsical change of pace from the serious, hard-working, utilitarian office typewriters. As the Kirkland Museum of Fine Arts in Denver, Colorado, reports, designer Ettore said, the Valentine, “. . . was invented for use in anyplace but an office, so as not to remind anyone of monotonous working hours, but rather to keep amateur poets company on quiet Sundays in the country or to provide a highly colored object on a table in a studio apartment."

Despite the Valentine’s flamboyant design it was not a commercial success. Its price was too high and the technology was too quickly eclipsed by new electric machines. Reportedly, even Sottsass became disillusioned with it saying, ”[It was] too obvious, a bit like a girl wearing a very short skirt and too much make-up." In the early 70s, the market was still dominated by employers who expected workers to type at desks in an office — but the Valentine was a delightful fantasy!

Its ABS plastic case and frame was lightweight and innovative, but its rubber case fasteners that secure the handle plate of the typewriter with rubber straps often dried out, cracked and broke off. One of the two rubber fasteners is broken on this machine.

Beside the most popular red, the Valentine was also available in white, yellow, blue, green and gray. Red was the clear favorite.

All the expected functions are available on the Valentine, including two shift keys and a shift lock; single, double and triple line spacing with a free-platen turning option; carriage lock; paper support arms; right and left margin settings; margin release and tabulator key; error-correcting feature after erasure (by “pressing and holding” spacebar to reduce normal spacing between letters) and a ribbon color selector.

This typewriter is a collector’s delight!
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The 1970 Olivetti Valentine uses a 4-row, Qwerty, 40-key, frontstrike impact mechanism.
Overall condition: Good
Year: 1970
Serial No.: 5742243
Type language: English
Manufactured by Ing. C. Olivetti & C. S.p.A., Ivrea, Italy