What we have here is a 1965 Facit TP1 typewriter. In its native Sweden, this would have been designated a Facit Privat (Serie 2), namely the second design the manufacturer sold under the ‘Privat’ name. Later still there was a third – Serie 3 – iteration, which was elsewhere marketed as the TP2. My TP1 has 12cpi Elite type, and a keyboard with some mathematical symbols on it: ‘±’, ‘√’, ‘Σ’, ‘°’, ‘×’ and ‘μ’.

I bought mine via ebay in 2018: I don’t think it cost any more than £35. It’s very well-designed and well-made; and it works beautifully, although there are other machines I prefer when it comes to the ‘feel’ of the typing action. Unusually for an old typewriter there is nothing mechanically wrong with it at all. Perhaps that lack of imperfection is why I find it a little less interesting than most if .