Maine Antique Digest, December 2016

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Maine Antique Digest, December 2016 9-D
- FEATURE --
London 9-D
Two examples from the opening, auto-
mobilia section of a vehicle and auto
jumble sale held by Bonhams on Septem-
ber 3 at the National Motor Museum at
Beaulieu in Hampshire are where we first
fill up.
Given their pristine-looking appear-
ance, they have obviously been repainted
and/or refurbished to various degrees, and
though no indication was given in the cat-
alogue as to their age, I suspect that those
more familiar with such things than I am
will have a good idea. The Avery Har-
doll model noted below, my brief search
online tells me, was patented in 1928,
and I am assuming—though perhaps
wrongly—that the other pumps are of
similar vintage.
Seen below left is a 6'6¾" high,
hand-operated Gilbert & Barker pump
(A) restored in National Benzole yellow
and black livery and one which still has
its original Goodyear rubber delivery
hose. The hand points helpfully at the
delivery end of the hose.
It advertises petrol available at 1/5d a
gallon*—that is to say one shilling and
five pence in the U.K.’s pre-decimalisa-
tion currency, or around 9.3¢ at today’s
exchange rates!
The Gilbert & Barker pump sold for
$2240, while the red and yellow Avery
Hardoll Model CH1 (B), a 5'10½" high,
one-gallon, hand-cranked pump, was bid
to $2905. The latter, dispensing fuel at
1/6d per gallon (around 10¢ at today’s
exchange rates), is mounted with what
Bonhams term an unusual Shell brand
plate and has another sign urging driv-
ers to purchase only “Shell Grade Motor
Spirit.”
There were more pumps in this year’s
“Goodwood Revival” sale, held on Sep-
tember 10. There, a 6'6" high Hammond
two-gallon, hand-operated, semi-rotary
pump (C), restored in “Super Charged
Super Shell” red and yellow livery, was
sold for $3645. The pair of one-gallon
glass delivery jars are original.
In the same sale, a 2' tall, hand-cranked
forecourt Bowser oil pump (D), restored
in green, red and yellow Pratt’s Oil livery
and accompanied by a half-gallon Pratt’s
oil can, sold for $2155.
* One U.K. gallon = 0.83 U.S. gallon.
(A) The Gilbert &
Barker pump sold at
$2240.
(B) The Avery &
Hardoll Model CH1
pump sold at $2905.
(C) The Hammond
two-gallon pump sold
at $3645.
(D) The Bowser
garage forecourt
oil pump sold at
$2155.
Petrol to Me, but Gas to Most M.A.D. Readers
Items from the collections of the late
Robert White (1953-2015), an entre-
preneurial businessman and founder of
Robert White (Photographic), are fea-
tured twice in this month’s “Letter.”
On September 19 at Bonhams, a sale in
which were gathered his cameras, his cars
and his remaining motorcycles, together
with some 440 lots of automobilia—prin-
cipally a vast range of car mascots—saw
almost every one of the 614 lots sold, and
it raised well in excess of $3 million.
That money, together with the $3 mil-
lion paid privately by his friend the Amer-
ican comedian, actor, and former TV
Tonight Show host Jay Leno for White’s
collection of Brough motorcycles, will be
used to fund advances in cancer diagnosis
and treatment provided by White’s local
hospital at Poole in Dorset.
These generous gifts were made in
acknowledgment of the exemplary care
that he had received at the NHS (National
Health Service) hospital during his final
illness and to help fund the ongoing care
and treatment of other patients of the
Dorset Cancer Centre.
A few other items from the sale are
featured in the round-up of the Bonhams
automobilia sales that appear elsewhere
in this issue, but here the focus is on one
of the dozen watches offered in the Rob-
ert White sale.
Bid to a double estimate and record
$292,760 was another example of the
watchmaking genius of George Daniels
(1926-2011). A report on the 2012 Sothe-
by’s sale of Daniels’ personal collection
of watches and clocks, including exam-
ples of his own creations and those of
other makers, appeared in the February
2013 issue of M.A.D. under the headline
“The Greatest Watch Maker of the 20th
”
The timepiece in the Robert White sale
was one of Daniels’ “35th Anniversary”
watches. A model that Daniels took three
years to design, working in conjunction
with Roger Smith, his apprentice and
later business partner, it was one of just
The “35th Anniversary” watch that sold
for a record $292,760 as part of the Robert
White collection.
35 examples made of the watch that com-
memorated the invention in 1975 of the
Daniels “co-axial escapement,” which is
recognised as the greatest advancement
in mechanical escapement design since
the invention of the lever escapement by
Thomas Mudge in 1754.
As the George Daniels website explains,
“Its success lies in the tangential impulse
and lock in vibrations of each oscillation
without sliding friction which, unlike the
conventional lever escapement, remain
unaffected by changes in viscosity of the
movement.”
The resulting “Anniversary Watch,”
we are told, is “a manually wound watch
with power reserve indicator, calendar
mechanism and seconds dial in a style
that is reminiscent of the appearance of
the famous tourbillon chronograph pocket
watch created by Dr. Daniels in 1994.”
Given the content of another of this
month’s major features, it may also be
relevant to note here that George Daniels’
other great passion was for old cars, and
on June 12, 2012, in their annual Festi-
val of Speed sale, Bonhams sold a group
of just seven cars from his collection for
something in the region of $16 million.
Robert White’s 35th Anniversary Watch
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