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1904 Densmore 5 Serial # 8413 1904 Densmore 5 typewriter, Serial # 8413 Brian Decker's 1904 Densmore 5 typewriter. 2026-11-06 From the Virtual Typewriter Collection of Brian Decker: 1904 Densmore 5 Serial # 8413 2026-NOV-05, Gallery Creation:

This typewriter is from the Mike Meakin collection. Mike was the owner of Abacus Office Machines in Spokane, WA, which he started in 1961. Mike retired in 1992, leaving the operation of the business to his children. In addition to running a successful office machine business, Mike was an avid typewriter and adding machine collector, whose collection grew to over 450 machines over time. Mike passed away in 2025, and his children are now gradually selling off his collection. His daughter, Trudy, has graciously allowed me to create TWDB galleries for Mike's machines, to add to our knowledge base.

This Densmore No. 5 is the subject of the 76th Meakin gallery I have added to TWDB. It is one of several machines in the Meakin Collection that I have arranged to purchase for my own collection. Similar to Fay-Sholes 6 #17212, I am setting the status to "In My Collection", in eager anticipation of receiving this machine when Trudy is able to ship it to me. In the meantime, I am using photos of the typewriter as it sits in her father's home, including a couple of still images from a video she sent to me of one of his wonderful typewriter rooms.

The serial number is 8413, but as shown in the image, it is surrounded by the letter "D" on either side, presumably for "Densmore". Only one other gallery, for Erik Bruchez's Model 4 #12215 also has an image showing "D" as both prefix and suffix letter to the serial number. The other Model 5 galleries with photos of the serial number, ranging from #27431 to #39364, as well as the sole Model 6 gallery, for #33656, all show a serial number consisting of just the numerals.

1904 Densmore 5 #8413

Status: My Collection
Hunter: Brian Decker (bkdecker66)
Created: 11-05-2026 at 07:30PM
Last Edit: 11-06-2026 at 08:22AM

Description Hunter 4 Photos 1 Like  Find on Ebay #AD  Find on Etsy #AD

Description:

2026-NOV-05, Gallery Creation:

This typewriter is from the Mike Meakin collection. Mike was the owner of Abacus Office Machines in Spokane, WA, which he started in 1961. Mike retired in 1992, leaving the operation of the business to his children. In addition to running a successful office machine business, Mike was an avid typewriter and adding machine collector, whose collection grew to over 450 machines over time. Mike passed away in 2025, and his children are now gradually selling off his collection. His daughter, Trudy, has graciously allowed me to create TWDB galleries for Mike's machines, to add to our knowledge base.

This Densmore No. 5 is the subject of the 76th Meakin gallery I have added to TWDB. It is one of several machines in the Meakin Collection that I have arranged to purchase for my own collection. Similar to Fay-Sholes 6 #17212, I am setting the status to "In My Collection", in eager anticipation of receiving this machine when Trudy is able to ship it to me. In the meantime, I am using photos of the typewriter as it sits in her father's home, including a couple of still images from a video she sent to me of one of his wonderful typewriter rooms.

The serial number is 8413, but as shown in the image, it is surrounded by the letter "D" on either side, presumably for "Densmore". Only one other gallery, for Erik Bruchez's Model 4 #12215 also has an image showing "D" as both prefix and suffix letter to the serial number. The other Model 5 galleries with photos of the serial number, ranging from #27431 to #39364, as well as the sole Model 6 gallery, for #33656, all show a serial number consisting of just the numerals.

Typeface Specimen:

Links:

Photos:

Front, closer view.
Front, closer view.

Serial number.
Serial number.

Front, with carriage removed.
Front, with carriage removed.

Front, disassembled view.
Front, disassembled view.

Hunter: Brian Decker (bkdecker66)

Brian Decker's Typewriter Galleries [ My Collection ] [ My Sightings ]

Status: Typewriter Hunter
Points: 7497

My interest in typewriters started in 1997, when I was in graduate school at the University of Georgia. I purchased and read Darryl Rehr's book, joined ETC, and started reaching out to known collectors. I had several email interchanges with Richard Polt dating from that period. I also bought some of my first machines from Bob Aubert, and visited him at his home twice. After marriage and relocation to New England, I continued visiting antique shops and eBay, until other priorities put my typewriter hobby on hiatus around 2008.

In late 2024, I started up again, working on my machines and having some of them serviced professionally by New England Typewriter (NET) LLC (Merrimack, NH), until they closed their doors in December of 2025. Since mid-2025, I have been adding to my collection again, first with a Hermes 3000 purchase from NET, then with various auctions and purchases on eBay, when I find something that catches my eye.


RESEARCH NOTE: When researching the Densmore 5 on a computer with lots of screen real estate, you may find that launching the Densmore Serial Number page and the Densmore 5 By Model/Year/Serial page in new browser windows can give you interesting perspectives on changes throughout the model series.

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