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This is my 1953 Royal Quiet Deluxe Gold portable typewriter that was a limited edition model (serial number AG 2533965) Some of these golden models were given as awards to Royal Typewriter company employees. Others were given to high school students who were winners of writing competitions sponsored by Royal Typewriter. The body of this model and many of the mechanical pieces are finished with real gold plating! The gold plated Quiet Deluxe models were reportedly produced to celebrate the companies 50th anniversary (Golden Jubilee) based on a published typewriter collecting book. Although I have seen the caption in this book about the 50th anniversary model, I have never seen any Royal Typewriter company documentation to support this.

This was my father's typewriter until he passed away over 25 years ago and you can see his name engraved on it in the photo. He loved to write and use this typewriter, so I have kept it all these years. I can still vividly remember the sounds of my father typing on this and the bell ringing at the end of each line. My father was able to get some of his writing published with this typewriter. If you click on the link in the comment section below, you can see a story he had published in a national magazine using this typewriter.

This is same identical model as the one that Ian Fleming owned. He wrote the first James Bond novels and used one like it to type many of these novels. There are several different older models of these Royal Quiet Deluxe Gold typewriters, but this is the exact model that Ian Fleming had. If you click on the link in the comment section below, you can see an actual photo of Ian Fleming's typewriter, as well as you can buy framed and matted photographs of it in a variety of sizes on that site. The one that Ian Fleming owned sold in an auction for more than any other antique typewriter had ever sold for ($89,144.00 US dollars) at the time and there was fierce bidding. The buyer at the auction is rumored to be Pierce Bronson who had played James Bond.

I think that Ian Fleming was just into all things gold. He wrote Goldfinger, The Man with the Golden Gun and wrote these in Goldeneye, Jamica (Fleming named the estate Goldeneye) on a gold typewriter. There is even a gold typewriter written into the novel Goldfinger! These gold typewriters seem to be very rare, since I only see one or two show up on ebay a year and it is almost never the same model that Ian Fleming owned. I have seen them sell for $800.00 to $1000.00 when they are in good shape.

This typewriter is in good condition, but the gold plating is worn off on it in many places because my father had used it a lot. I am not a James Bond collector, but I would like to display this after restoring the gold plating. The black finish and decals are flawless. I also have a "typed" letter on Royal Typewriter letterhead dated 1953 to my father talking about getting this model with italic type. This typewriter does have the Italic type shown above, so Royal Typewriter provided it for him. I may have the only 1953 Royal Quiet Deluxe Gold typewriter with this type style. What company would type a full page letter today to make a sale of only $174.00.

Wouldn't this typewriter look great on my living room table restored with the letter in the typewriter and the letterhead showing!

cary.mark@me.com