Atlas (?) 1930s (?) Bicycle

[Jesper]

Is anyone familiar with a European (?) Atlas marque. I am only familiar with the Indian marque.
I am looking at a bike that is stated as an Atlas, but there is no identifying it other than by it having "Atlas" hubs and an "A" design headlight bracket..
It has a Magistroni bottom bracket, but I cannot discern the the logo on the crank arm.
The odd thing are the head tube lugs and fork crown which are similar to (or are) the Gloria "trefoil" style; more like "fleur de lys" style. Did the Indian company ever produce a fancy version with that detail?
The owner claims it to be from the 30s, but the Indian company formed sometime after WW2 so that would be an issue if it was of Indian manufacture.

I know there is/are some Atlas bikes of US manufacture; this is definitely not one of those.

 

[juvela]

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this Atlas headplate unidentified as to national origin

thinking it must be the Indian one since globe is centred on the Indian Ocean and text is in english -

might be interesting to check if the distances between the three fasteners line up with those of Sir Wally...

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Atlas Cycle Co. of Britain document of 1895 -

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Atlas brake from Germany which came fitted to some Durkopp cycles of the early twentieth century -

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[Jesper]

Thanks @juvela
I just do not have any idea as to its country of origin. It appears to be older than what an early Indian made Atlas is, but I don't know if there is a tie-in to another earlier marque.
It is a weird frame for sure. I do not have access to to the bike, but I cannot see any holes pertaining to the head badge mounting. If I could make out what the crank arm has on it that might help.
Was Magistroni making bottom brackets for English bikes in the 30s? The seller is calling it an Atlas with Gloria lugs, but I have not seen a Gloria with those lugs. I will contact the seller and see if I can get a better photo of the crank marking or ask if he knows what it says.
Does the "Atlas" hub marking match a particular make (India, England)?

 

[juvela]

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would certainly assume at a glance that it is of Italy origin

cannot think of an alternate national origin candidate

if cruder, Argentina could be a candidate but it is done too nicely for the silverland at this epoch

handgrips appear to be REG

chainguard/case is likely to be a Mazzuchelli product

was unable to make any guesses as to marking in the enlarged photo

extreme limits o' me era are 1959 and 1983; generally do a bit better out there in the middle somewhere

so 1930's is pretty much terra incognita for me

another Italy lug producer of this era was Malaguti but see nothing in the design to suggest one of their products

others far more knowledgable should be along shortly with some solid information

am i correct in thinking you do not have cycle to hand and are limited to images from a seller?


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[Jesper]

@juvela ; you are correct about me not being able to inspect the bike. It is in Italy which does give some credence as to it being from that region. I am going to contact the seller this evening (morning for him) and see if I can glean any more information.

When I look at the crank arm marking it almost seems like the logo is similar to the coaster brake arms with the fancy "A"; but it is still a stretch for me to be sure. I will ask for an image of the other arm and see if it shows it any better.

 

[dnc1]

There are some interesting 'Atlas' headbadges over on Forum Tontonvelo.
One is of Netherlands origin, at least one is French, can't decide on the others.....

(Photos from Tontonvelo)


...looking at the brakes style and design,and that chainguard I would definitely agree with the consensus of an Italian origin rather than French, but those lugs?

 

[Jesper]

I found this badge; Italian, but year unknown.

 

[Jesper]

Thanks @dnc1 for those examples. Obviously a common name (the most common?) name to use in days gone by.
Wish I could see the bikes that the bottom 2 were mounted on. I presume Tontonvelo had only the badges shown and no images of the bikes.

 

[dnc1]

Thanks @dnc1 for those examples. Obviously a common name (the most common?) name to use in days gone by.
Wish I could see the bikes that the bottom 2 were mounted on. I presume Tontonvelo had only the badges shown and no images of the bikes.

Not that common a name, some names have many more examples than this.
I can tell you that stylistically the last photo is probably the earliest badge of the lot.
I've seen quite a few marques now with a very similar badge design with the laurel wreath and the classical head medallions towards the bottom of the design, and the star and cockade/ribbons at the top, all with different names, all TOC bikes.

You're correct re. the fact that they are just headbadge images on that particular thread, literally more than 3,000 of them.
One forum member extracts them from other threads and they are then grouped alphabetically to scroll through in a separate thread.
It's an impressive undertaking and a useful reference resource.

 

[Jesper]

I found this 1938 (?) Atlas on Flickr. It appears to have the badge that is second from the bottom on dnc1's post. No fancy lugs though.

Photo credit: AJ on flickr
I know I was exaggerating some about Atlas being the most common bike name, but there does seem to be more than I expected from all corners of the world.