Corona Typewriter bought at a garage sale today.

It's a Corona Model #3. In this case "3" would also have referred to the number of banks (rows of keys). This is a three-bank model. Most typewriters have four banks of keys. Early portable typewriters like this tried to cut down on weight and complexity by having only three rows of keys, and piggybacking as many extra functions onto the existing keys as possible.

...it made typing an interesting proposition.

Underwood was the first company that manufactured a really successful four-bank portable typewriter that you didn't have to set up, first. Lift the lid, crank in the paper - GO.

Every other machine - the Corona, the Remington, etc, you had to flip something over, pull a knob, lift a lever, unfold something...not the Underwood.

 

It's an Aussie machine, so any prices I know for US machines don't apply. If you can get a ribbon for it and get it working, I'd say $40 was well worth it.

 

It's an American machine. It was simply SOLD in Australia. Australia, to my knowledge, never manufactured typewriters.

 

It's in the Aussie market though, not here. Different ball game.