Jesse McCauley
McCauley Cycle Works
I purchased this ca. 1930's salesman sample display from the granddaughter of the original salesman who carried it while working for Louisville Cycle & Supply Co.
By the time she came into possession of his kit apparently it had fallen apart to the point that it was mostly destroyed. It appears as though originally much of the kit was in an oversized binder with "pages" like this set of NOS Torrington stems. My plan was to frame this in a shadow box but I think I will make it available to you fine folks to keep the DOND wheel rolling!
I added a missing quill wedge to one stem but aside from that I have not so much as cleaned this piece for fear of further degradation.
The backing is at this point pretty fragile after years of being tossed around. I tried to get a closeup of the 'swirl' pattern, I have seen similar treatments inside of 1920's and 30's suitcases & luggage so hopefully you can make it out / recognize it.
I tried to get close images of the stems and string lashing method to give you the best possible perspectives, I believe these are all truly NOS items.
In person to my eye the three top stems appear to be nickel plated while the bottom most ladies stem appears chrome.
I know I have seen multiple catalog references to the time when you could order either nickel or chrome and I believe this may be a relic from that brief window in time.
Also worth noting are the two styles of pinch bolt used simultaneously, the two sided and five sided variations sometimes discussed in date approximation.
I will take pains to ship this safely so that it does not deteriorate any further. I have padded a USPS large flat rate box and have a plan to get it up to the delicate task.
Incidentally in my archive I had a digital image of a couple of these stems with corroborating model numbers, I'm sure the others are out there as well just not handy.
I also included a digital copy of a business card from one such traveling salesman named Bill Ash, but this card comes from the once famed Protean Paper collection of Howie Cohen and is NOT in my collection NOR is it involved in this sale outside of for informational / imagination purposes.
Measurements are 9" wide by 10 1/2" tall.
$REDUCED to 375 shipped from Richmond, VA CONUS
ML handoff also possible
By the time she came into possession of his kit apparently it had fallen apart to the point that it was mostly destroyed. It appears as though originally much of the kit was in an oversized binder with "pages" like this set of NOS Torrington stems. My plan was to frame this in a shadow box but I think I will make it available to you fine folks to keep the DOND wheel rolling!
I added a missing quill wedge to one stem but aside from that I have not so much as cleaned this piece for fear of further degradation.
The backing is at this point pretty fragile after years of being tossed around. I tried to get a closeup of the 'swirl' pattern, I have seen similar treatments inside of 1920's and 30's suitcases & luggage so hopefully you can make it out / recognize it.
I tried to get close images of the stems and string lashing method to give you the best possible perspectives, I believe these are all truly NOS items.
In person to my eye the three top stems appear to be nickel plated while the bottom most ladies stem appears chrome.
I know I have seen multiple catalog references to the time when you could order either nickel or chrome and I believe this may be a relic from that brief window in time.
Also worth noting are the two styles of pinch bolt used simultaneously, the two sided and five sided variations sometimes discussed in date approximation.
I will take pains to ship this safely so that it does not deteriorate any further. I have padded a USPS large flat rate box and have a plan to get it up to the delicate task.
Incidentally in my archive I had a digital image of a couple of these stems with corroborating model numbers, I'm sure the others are out there as well just not handy.
I also included a digital copy of a business card from one such traveling salesman named Bill Ash, but this card comes from the once famed Protean Paper collection of Howie Cohen and is NOT in my collection NOR is it involved in this sale outside of for informational / imagination purposes.
Measurements are 9" wide by 10 1/2" tall.
$REDUCED to 375 shipped from Richmond, VA CONUS
ML handoff also possible
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