The Curta.org Bulletin Board

[Pete42]

I just bought a very nice early Curta II from eBay (175889777819). Everything went very fine, good communication with the seller, everything went smoothly.

Until the machine arrived today. This is what it looks like:



I actually had to wipe it before handling it, it was even worse than what's visible on the picture.

The seller, in an attempt to do a particularly outstanding job, had decided to clean and oil the machine before sending it off. So while the pictures on eBay show a perfectly normal appearance for a 70 years old machine, what I got was something that looked like it had been pulled out of an oil barrel. And of course the excessive amount of the mixture of oil and seventy years worth of dust inside it made sure that it was stuck within a few turns of the crank.

The seller was devastated that their good intentions went awry and granted a substantial deduction of the price - which will hopefully cover the services of dear Romano to make the Curta well again. Apart from the oil desaster everything went absolutely perfect, including the communication and the handling of the issue by the seller.

So in the long run all will be fine, except for the Curta needing to travel to Ravenna and back for a thorough cleaning and re-lubricating in more sensible quantities.