Very soon after production started of the Oliver 1, a number of improvements were made to the design and the Oliver 2 was introduced, making the Oliver 1 an extremely rare machine. The oldest know ads for the Oliver 2 are dated October 1897.
One striking difference between the Oliver 1 and the Oliver 2 that is shown here, is that on the Oliver 1 the base of the machine was completely flat. On the number 2, the two pieces sticking out on the side were curved upwards, creating two handles to pick up the machine.
For more information on the Oliver, check the separate entries for other models.