Gorgeous '60s Faema "FP" model grinder, with brand new burr set.
This was a "standard" for European cafes in the sixties, and a beautiful beast of a grinder it is. Among the last of the "deco" styled espresso gear that the Italians held onto, long after the rest of European industrial design went more Bauhaus.
It violates our "120 volt" rule, but we can't stop asking, "Why can't grinders look this cool anymore?" (Answer, obvious: Money.)
We're in love with the details. Like the wavy chrome doser handle (doser mechanism is sweet!) and the "hammertone" finish on the body. Even the brass name plate makes us swoon.
But best of all, it still has the original glass hopper! Most of these have long since been broken, or lost, and replaced with plastic hoppers. (Try getting a vintage glass hopper shipped from Europe in one piece!)
Plastic seems so tawdry after using a grinder with a glass hopper! (In a perfect world, your precious organic beans would never touch plastic, right?) And check out the chromed (over brass?) "bean stop," which swings open and closed at the bottom of the hopper neck (which is, of course, made of cool machined aluminum, not plastic.)
There's a small chip near the top edge, but the glass is in otherwise super condition. The hand blown bubbles are no extra charge. The original lid was lost, but she has a new replacement that fits perfectly.
The doser does have the original lid, with the Faema logo (the bean hopper would have originally had the same style, only larger.) There's a small crack in it, but it's been repaired and quite solid.
The doser lens has seen better days, with some of the usual spidering fissures you'll see in ancient lucite, but it's super thick and robust (not modern plastic) and just adds more character and history to this machine.
This IS a 220 volt motor, so obviously the ideal buyer would have 220 available in their espresso lair. But an "up converter" from 120 to 220 should work. We haven't tried it! Looks awfully cool next to the '61 Faema Urania.
About 22 inches high x 12 deep.
Another rarity from VoltAge110.