Item Number: 399

Time Left: CLOSED

Tom Hanks, actor, producer, director, writer and avid KPCC fan, has a collection of vintage typewriters that he started back in 1978. This is your once-in-a-lifetime-chance to own one from his personal collection. And it’s signed by Tom Hanks.

The following excerpts from his New York Times piece, I Am TOM. I Like to TYPE. Hear That? explain the reasons behind Mr. Hank’s love of typewriters.

I use a manual typewriter — and the United States Postal Service — almost every day. My snail-mail letters and thank-you notes, office memos and to-do lists, and rough — and I mean very rough — drafts of story pages are messy things, but the creating of them satisfies me like few other daily tasks.

Everything you type on a typewriter sounds grand, the words forming in mini-explosions of SHOOK SHOOK SHOOK. A thank-you note resonates with the same heft as a literary masterpiece.

The sound of typing is one reason to own a vintage manual typewriter — alas, there are only three reasons, and none of them are ease or speed. In addition to sound, there is the sheer physical pleasure of typing; it feels just as good as it sounds…

The physicality of typing engenders the third reason to write with a relic of yesteryear: permanence. Short of chiseled words in stone, few handmade items last longer than a typed letter, for the ink is physically stamped into the very fibers of the paper…

As you can see from the photos, this typewriter is truly beautiful. This is your chance to own a piece of history. Did we mention it’s signed by Tom Hanks?