You can buy Hemingway’s typewriter. But would you use it?

A close-up of a 1926 Underwood Standard Portable typewriter previously owned by the legendary author Ernest Hemingway. Photo: NYT

You never know what can be found in a famous person’s typewriter. Joe DiMaggio’s old machine contained the cutup shards of his expired bank card. Steve Soboroff, who bought the New York Yankees Hall of Famer’s typewriter in 2011, found the little pieces underneath the keys while cleaning it.

Soboroff also unearthed childhood photos of Ernest Hemingway in the writer’s 1926 Underwood Standard Portable. But Soboroff’s greatest discovery with these machines – and others, including typewriters belonging to Maya Angelou, Tennessee Williams, John Lennon and Shirley Temple – was a historical connection to great people.