A Fortunate Discovery

 A Previously Unknown Model of Fortuna

Preface:  The line of Stolzenberg-Fortuna and, later, Fortuna typewriters is practically unknown in the United States.  The machines were sold primarily where they were made, in Germany, but did achieve sales around Europe and - incredibly - for a brief time in Australia.  They are not by any stretch uncommon, though, with something over 60,000 or perhaps 70,000 machines having been built over a span of about 27 years.  That said, the existing models are well documented among German collectors and serial numbers and features of over 90 collected examples are known.  The machine you see above is a previously completely unknown, unseen model variant in the line.  

Background.  The Stolzenberg-Fortuna machine appeared on the market in Germany in 1923, initially as the exclusive product of Fabrik Stolzenberg, which was a major German office furniture and equipment dealer.  This company previously distributed the Oliver typewriter under its own name and in fact the Stolzenberg-Fortuna machines were green.  The 1923 standard machine we now describe was a thoroughly different invention, coming in fact from the same man who had designed the production version of the Mercedes typewriter, Carl Schluns.  The Stolzenberg-Fortuna was not manufactured by Mercedes but in fact was produced in the factory of J. P. Sauer and Son, a gun maker whose factory was in Suhl, Germany, roughly six miles from the Mercedes Buromaschinen factory.  

(Aside - I will not delve into further detail here on the history.  Several months' worth of intense research by myself and collectors Thomas Furtig, Bert Kerschbaumer, Georg Someregger and others has resulted in Thomas' effort to rewrite the known history in detail, and I will not steal his thunder here.)

The established history, which derives from trade paper and advertising and which matches all known machines, is that in 1929 a "new" Fortuna IV appeared.  In fact, this was a thorough refresh of the previous machine, with what we might describe best as a large number of small changes.  For example, there are changes in the shape of internal castings and some of the stamped parts to make them easier to manufacture; however, the machine is essentially the same design.  The major alteration was the addition of two more character keys, up from 42 to 44 and the addition of a new tabulator, which the previous machine did not have.  At this time, the backspace key moved down beside the space bar to its right with the TAB key to the left of the space bar.  It's important to point out clearly here that the Stolzenberg-Fortuna and Fortuna prior to this time never had advertised model numbers, were not available with any modifications, and are well documented.  Further, later after the "IV" the machine changes just to model "Standard" or sometimes "ST", and again has no referenced model numbers and is only available as one model at a time.  Again, for example, once the machine changed to model "Standard" a lever-set tabulator, or "setztabulator" was introduced and every machine made thereafter had it.  

(One model at a time is a commonality among "lower priced" standard and even portable typewriters of the day, and is an important part of this story.)

Getting back briefly to 1929 it's necesary to note that at this time the machines became black, and that while a few continued to say "Stolzenberg-Fortuna" most of them did not.  See illustration below courtesy Berthold Kerschbaumer (who provided the earlier line art seen above as well.)

Fortuna s/n 6912, Will Davis collection.  The recent discovery of a green machine, which simply says "Fortuna" and which has 42 keys, and a tabulator with a different key location than the IV, has provided some behind-the-scenes surprise.  Thomas Furtig, leading expert on the Fortuna line, confirms that 6912 is a previously unknown model.  It does not appear in any ads, is not mentioned anywhere, and no other examples exist.  Its serial number is above all known "Stolzenberg-Fortuna" machines and is below a gap after which the "Fortuna IV" serial numbers begin.

The major mechanical change on 6912 is the addition of a tabulator, not present on any other Stolzenberg-Fortuna machine and not present on any of the few green examples that just say "Fortuna" (yet another mystery.)  The tabulator mechanism is functionally the same as that which was employed on the well-known IV, but the tabulator key is down to the right of the space bar and just below the right side shift key.  It must be said that this location and key center spacing is not necessarily optimal.

The rest of Fortuna 6912 is the same as earlier machines; in other words, this is not the IV.  It is in fact the first series, before the multiple small changes, with a tabulator added on - making it an unknown and undocumented model.  

We will now attempt to answer a couple of obvious questions.

When was this made?  We can narrow down at least the removal of the Stolzenberg name from the machines, at least full time, to early 1928 when records indicate Stolzenberg sold out.  The first advertising we have for the IV comes in early 1929; this seems to tell us that this machine could have been made for much of 1928.  However, there are almost no ads for the Fortuna at all during 1928 which to this writer hints at reduced availability or even unavailability, perhaps as the Sauer and Son factory was retooling to produce the revised and altered IV.  It must be said that this machine was not at any time being produced at anywhere near the monthly or yearly rate of most standard machines; it looks like in the first five or so years of production only about six thousand Stolzenberg-Fortunas were made.  

We can look at a pair of interesting advertisements from German newspapers next.

The upper advertisement above ran in Der Naturforscher in August 1927 and shows the Stolzenberg-Fortuna in what we would consider its normal early form.  I hasten to add that the cut was never altered to show the two color ribbon selector that appeared during production, but the ad does not mention a tabulator on the typewriter.  The lower ad ran in Der Deutsche Rundfunk in October 1928.  This is clearly a Stolzenberg ad but it lists three brands available - Fortuna, Mercedes and Oliver.  We can be comfortable that as of this date the name "Stolzenberg" is no longer appearing on all the machines being turned out of the Sauer and Son plant.  Unfortunately, no image of a machine in 1928 advertising seems yet to have been found.  Is this early 1928 to early 1929 slot the period in which the green "Fortuna," serial 6912 was made?  From all evidence we have, that answer seems to be "yes."

What is this machine?  Given the appearance of this example, and the fact that it has a conventionally stamped serial number and no other identifying stamps or characters or numbers either by the serial or anywhere else, this is not a prototype.  The machine is completely finished in full retail condition and appears as a production example.  This means it can really only be one of two things:

-A production machine previously unknown.  This seems to be the better, or more historically responsible, choice given that we do not wish to over-ascribe rarity to a new find.  The lack of advertising for a longish period means that we can assume nothing about what was actually being offered, even if through reduced channels and at a potentially lower rate.  It is interesting however in light of these considerations that not one single other one of these is known to exist.

-A test article released to the public.  Manufacturers often produce preproduction examples to be used in regular service in order to obtain feedback from end users, and also in order to disclose weaknesses in a design (or combination of designs) prior to incorporation of major changes to a product on the open market.  There is a chance, given the total lack of any reference to this variant anywhere, that this machine is part of a batch manufactured to test the tabulator in service prior to a full revision of the machine that resulted in the well-known IV.  These would not have been advertised as a new model, prior to proving out the new mechanism.  

Whichever it is, it's extremely exciting as I approach 25 years of collecting typewriters next month to still be finding previously unknown models in the wild.  Other collectors are still finding yet more unseen machines, and this wonderful hobby proves it still has many surprises in store.  

As to the Fortuna machines - as I wrote earlier, these are practically unknown over here but these machines are VERY common in Germany.  While I won't give away what my friend is working on regarding the detailed history, there is some fascinating engineering in these machines that is really duplicated nowhere else that I am aware of and that'll be shared in another post at a later date; you'll find out why these were advertised as the "German Speed Typewriter."  For now, we can just enjoy this new member of the still-growing pantheon of antique machines.  

-Will Davis, Sept 21, 2024