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Final round:
It's time to choose this year's winner. Please vote to determine the best relic or discovery of 2016.

See the first and second round for reference. Congratulations to all participants.

The final round ends on Saturday 10 December, 20:00 UTC. You can change your vote until the end of the round.
The full results will be published at the end of the awards.

Official nominees:

photekq for the mint condition Cherry G81-3100SAV
After a 3 years hunt photekq finally found his endgame keyboard: a mint condition Cherry G81-3100SAV. He is understandably happy about it and you can find more pictures about his discovery in the official thread.



emdude for three IBM 3277 keyboards
After seeing a Craigslist find on the /r/mechanicalkeyboards emdude tried his luck on a local classified website and he couldn't believe his own eyes: not one, not two, but three IBM 3277 Display Terminals with accompanying Beam Spring keyboards. Of course he didn't waste time and grabbed the whole lot!



HaaTa's Topre 39-AA-0101
Haata made it again! He is own relentless relic finder and this time he found an OEM 45g uniform Hi-Pro Topre keyboard straight from 1991. After a long cleaning session this is how it looks in all its splendor.



snuci for the Bendix keyboard from NASA
snuci's find dated 1974 is really a relic! This is a Bendix keyboard/control panel that was originally purchased from a surplus auction at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. If it looks like something coming from NASA, that's because it is! More pictures here.



snuci for the Canon Cat
Second entry for our formidable snuci! This time it is a Canon Cat an advanced typewriter developed by no less than Jef Raskin, one of the fathers of the Macintosh era in the 70s.

The Topre still looks great, wish I had that set of keycaps!

Didn't realize until now that I was nominated earlier for the SKCL Striped Amber discovery. Thanks everyone

Feel a bit special, made my weekend

matt3o wrote: ↑Canon Cat an advanced typewriter developed by no less than Jef Raskin, one of the fathers of the Macintosh era in the 70s.

Had no idea about this little factoid... certainly adds to its mystique. Walking in on CL beamspring/console triplets is nuts. Ending a 3 year search for "glory board" for a Cherry connoisseur, stunning quad-colored caps on an old Topre, and well... anything from NASA that might have been responsible for saving Apollo XIII?!?... Lots of nice finds. Envious


EDIT: make that "pentacolored" above... ridiculous

lot_lizard wrote: ↑
anything from NASA that might have been responsible for saving Apollo XIII?

This beauty is in the Space Museum in Huntsville, Alabama, and it clearly dates from the late-1980s-early-1990s:

I'll have to vote for that NASA keyboard. Talk about a unicorn!

Hats off to all the nominees, you're all amazing for finding and saving these pieces of history.

In alphabetical order, the top two contenders are: Please remember to vote!

Those G81-3100SAV really are something else, great find Photekq

The Beamers, again!

Beamspring for the win!

I love the look of the Cannon Cat, but seriously, just look at the knobs on the Bendix. Knobs!