In another post, Jack has listed the styles of Type IIs and he only mentions black ones and gray ones. Yet I see pics of Type IIs in fine shape that look distinctly green. Is it bad photography, do the gray ones discolor, or are they truly and properly green?

There are also pics on vcalc.net of "special Curtas" in gold, silver, chrome, as well as with other variations. Are these photoshopped or genuine mods?

The gray painted Curtas discolor on occasion due to oils, atmosphere contaminants, and bright light.

The Curtas in gold, silver, chrome, and other variations were made by custom anodizing various parts from a Curta that was disassembled. Contina never sold such Curtas, although I understand some may have been made by factory personnel - probably after the factory closed. Most of these custom Curtas were made much later by collectors.

Below are my two Curta type 2. Is the one on the left just discolored or was their another factory color. Note the lettering is gold. It seem odd that the whole thing would have uniformly discolored.

The background of the Curta engraving is always aluminum colored. So your sample on the left side is discolored (means some film of dirt...). You can clean this with a soft cleanser.
On the other side, earlier gray Type II Curtas have a purer grey than later, which have a green cast.


[ 1958 ]


[ 1969 ]

Agreed. My earliest grey-body type 2s are a light and businesslike ash-blue/grey as in Murff's photos; my later versions (even one where I'm pretty sure the machine stayed untouched in its canister since manufacture) are distinctly greenish. As Murff said if it's a muddy green there's likely dirt contributing to the appearance (I cleaned one of mine pretty successfully with just soap and water, looked much better afterwards) but the paint composition was certainly changed at some point.

Frankly I prefer the blue-grey of the earlier type 2, but the most handsome examples of the entire run are IMO the type 1 from when they changed to square sliders in 7xxx or 8xxx up to where they changed the crank and canister from metal to plastic in the later years. Those all-metal type 1s 10xxx-40xxx are the purest form of the machine.

Thanks. I also prefer the light / pure grey color. Ifind it very odd that the discoloration, including the aluminum, changed in such a uniform way. Overall, the green one seems to behave suffered less wear and tear than the gray one (fewer bottom scratches etc).

Any issue with soaking the barrel in mild soap (after removal of course)? Or did you guys clean in place?