Magic Tricks and typewriters

A friend of mine's father was in the mail order magic business in the 50's and 60's. Not sure if they are still in business. These guys will sell you 150 tricks, their trick was to get your name and a catalog into your hands.

This typewriter must have been a good deal in this time period but in the ad it says all machines rebuilt as new. How much did a new one cost ? Those machines today would cost more than $25 to mail. They were heavy suckers. I am betting it's hard to find any kind of typewriter in use today. Yea I know there are a few holdouts that do not own a computer.
Of course this machine is usable when the power goes out.