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Traditional brass
foundries would cast their products by pouring molten brass to solidify to
shape in sand moulds with each shape needing its own wooden pattern. Once
made and used for the first time, patterns were identified and kept in store
in the pattern loft as carefully as might be until needed again. After
being cast and knocked out of the sand, items were usually ‘fettled’ by
cutting off the runners, risers and breathers that had let the liquid metal
in uniformly and the air out accordingly and dressing the surface as
needed. Most castings then needed to me machined to some extent to ensure
that faces would mate with assembled components and were also frequently
drilled and tapped for securing screws. A decision to make a celebration
souvenir would call up top skills to supplement normal procedures.
The pattern had to be
made very carefully and finished to a perfect surface finish. The casting
surface had to be excellent on all faces so use of the finest grade of
moulding sand was essential. If wording was to be inserted in the casting,
it had to be very carefully moulded. The design usually required a
demonstration of foundry skills such that very little fettling was to be
used. If the surface finish of a souvenir was slightly defective and needed
attention it was more likely to be scrapped rather than rectified.
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1228 This superb
sand cast brass reproduction of a wooden office hut is in two parts, the
base and the hut. The casting technique for the hut is intricate because of
the presence of re-entrant features that mean that it was not a simple
two-part mould. There are various ways in which this could have been made
but clues are covered by a coating of a lasting matt brass finish. The
separate base has edging representing pipes with corner bends and is secured
to the hut by two screws. The top notice board reads, in relief, ‘R T
Crane, Brass and Bell Foundry’ and the base has an impression reading ‘1855
Crane Co 1925’. The souvenir came from
USA and the company has not yet been traced.
Height approx 66mm (2⅝”). The company was formed by Richard and Charles
Crane in Chicago as R T Crane & Bro. By 1930 they were at Crane Building,
836 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois and had manufacturing plants
for cast brass valves, plumbing supplies and other products at Chicago,
Bridgeport, Birmingham, Chattanooga, Trenton and North Tonawanda, N.Y.
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7026 On a similar
but simpler theme is this cast brass souvenir from the 1938 Empire
Exhibition held in Glasgow. It is well made a replica of the Post Office
House in Clachan, North Uist, Scotland by a skilled founder. It appears to
be a one-piece casting with an open interior showing a central vertical
mould parting line. The ends are left well fettled and smooth. Height
approx 44mm (1¾”). |
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1209 A paperweight
commemorating 'Industrial Outing 1939' in the form of a dog of spaniel-like
appearance screwed to a rectangular base with iron weighting and a green
baize under-surface. Intriguingly, there is no mention of the name of the
industry, hopefully it can be recognised? American, 58 x 50 x 67mm high.
Weight 370g |
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782 A striking
central bird motif showing a jay in the centre of a cast brass ashtray was
perhaps an obvious but excellent choice made by brassfounders L. C. Jay and
Son Ltd., still working in Oak Street, Norwich. It is 125mm (5”) square. |
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3330 & 7899
Besides a high level of foundry craftsmanship, these two ashtrays carry a
style of humour that was much appreciated in the masculine environment of
foundries. The complex design of the oval dish features a lady on a ladder
picking apples from within a mature fruit tree. Unfortunately her skirt is
somehow caught on the ladder. The viewer is thus encouraged to turn the
dish over and read the message. The centre support pillar contains a rear
view that was intended to be risqué in those days. Round the periphery can
just be read the name ‘Cox & Co., Birmingham’ and ‘This casting is just as
it leaves the sand’. The site of a pouring gate can be seen on the major
axis of the oval at the top of the dish which measures 130 x 90mm and weighs
about 440g. It is of a late Victorian design. |
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7899 The Autumnal design of
the rectangular tray shows a female gardener wearing a headscarf and
navigating a pile of leaves with her wheelbarrow forming a high relief
foreground together with its handles, a spade and hazel broom. In the
background is a tree and a post carrying the message ‘Rubbish can be shot
here’. The bottom of the tray has a decorative scroll. The underside of
the tray has a smooth finish and cast-in lettering that is vastly better
than that of the oval example. On the four sides it reads ‘Cox & Co.
Birmingham’ ‘Leopold Foundry. Brass & Gun Metal Castings’ ‘Est. 1869.
Motor Castings a speciality’, ‘This casting is just as it leaves the sand.’
The centre pillar again includes a risqué design. The tray is approximately
150x105mm (6 x 4”), weighs a fairly hefty 900g (2lb) and has a gilt lacquer
finish. |
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4761 A pair of
bookends specially cast by Bridgeport Brass Co for presentation to employees
completing 25 Years Service. The symbolic part of the design includes an
hour glass between a pair of wings, illustrating well how time flies when
working for a good employer. The bookends have a tapered design that makes
them ideal for their purpose in addition to being easy to strip from a
mould. Each has a cartouche for the name of the recipient, blank for this
pair so perhaps they are from old, non-presented stock. The surface finish
is excellent. For this short run of high quality production the use of
‘permanent’ metal moulds and the gravity die casting method would have been
ideal. Underneath each end is a slight depression caused by metal
contracting on solidification and showing that they were cast, as to be
expected, upside down. Each has a height of about 150mm (6") but the
weights are slightly different at 1,655 and 1,685g (3lb 10½ oz and 3lb 11½
oz) which is not surprising.
The company was
incorporated in 1865 in Bridgeport, Conn.,
USA to make clock movements and expanded to cast, roll and draw their own
copper and brass and manufacture copper- and brass-wares including 'Rochester'
oil lamps, burners, electric lamps, fasteners and similar items with a
labour force of up to 800. They adopted the motto 'From ingot to finished
product'. They were bought out by Olin Brass of
East Alton, Illinois, USA and the site closed in
1983. [http://www.barnum-museum.org/artandindustry.htm
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6662 Well decorated
conventional Victorian desk paperweight by W. R. Leggott of Bradford, Leeds,
Manchester and London, brassfounders and fabricators, makers of locks and
openers. Length 110mm (4¼"). |
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731 & 2791 One
of these well-cast hexagonal brass ashtrays has a
sharply-defined design that shows a blacksmith swinging his hammer towards
an anvil on which is a workpiece that is shown as red hot by the radiation
over it. To right seems to be a cut-off saw. Underneath is the legend
‘Established 1888’
and over it ‘Super Materiam Ignis Triumphans’ which can perhaps be
translated as ‘Fire succeeds over material’. The underside shows a die-cast
finish with raised lettering ‘Made in England’. Another version is also
approximately 160mm (6¼”) across flats and has a similar but less well
defined design but with ‘1888-1938’ in the exergue instead. The appearance
of the underside of this one confirms that this item was cast in sand
instead of die-cast and is unexpectedly marked ‘Made in Holland’ rather than
England. There is no company name evident on either item but the theme is
obviously metallurgical. From a similar design eventually found on a
‘Zippo’ lighter it became apparent that this design of souvenir came not
from a brassfoundry was made for distribution by J. K. Smit and Sons who
still specialise in providing industrial diamonds and diamond tipped cutting
tools. They had and still have premises in Amsterdam, London and New York.
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Zippo lighter artwork that confirms the identification. |
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1175 999 3221 A
promotional ash tray in the late Hagenauer style of Walter Bosse but made in
USA by the Keeler Brass Co., Middleville, Mich. It is rectangular, 95 x 83
mm and sits nicely on four cast feet with a weight of 190g. Other
promotional items that they made included a detailed lizard and a bottle
opener. All are well marked with the company name. |
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5030 and 1970
Virginia Metalcrafters Advertising Display polished letters which read:
"Sand Cast, Hand Finished by Virginia Metalcrafters" It measures
approximately 200mm (8") long. Also Cast brass ashtray, a souvenir from the
historical re-creation of the town of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia
having the 'Governors’ Palace' in the centre. The excellent quality sand
casting is unfettled and has a good finish on the top face but the underside
is fully machined and stamped 'Korea'. Diameter 115mm (4 1/2"), weight
160g.
The historic district of
Colonial Williamsburg includes many of the buildings from 1699 to 1780 that
formed the capital of the State of Virginia. It has the excellent motto
‘that the future may learn from the past’. Part of the merchandising policy
is the sale of museum-quality reproductions including domestic brassware.
Originally these were locally sourced but are now procured according to
requirements. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonial_Williamsburg
and other sources]
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6891 A promotional
cast brass trinket tray with a harvest wheat theme in the form of a basket
with handles and stalks of wheat. The surface detail and quality is
excellent and the size 131x 105mm, it stands on three legs and weighs a
reasonable 270g (9½ oz). The underside has cast-in wording 'With the
compliments of E.J. Smith & Co., Tyseley Metal Works, Birmingham.
(Check - Edwin Smith,
2, Heneage Street in 1903, Birmingham city centre, not present by 1946).
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7852 The brass
foundry scene on this souvenir belt buckle was designed and produced around
1980. It is marked on the rear by Anacortes Brass Works Foundry 2000 R Ave., Anacortes, WA 98221,
United States.
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9589 A foundry scene
on a souvenir paper knife with the text 'World Famous Ingots' but no name of
the maker. (Thanks to Roderick Butler) |
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