*DAMAGED* Golding Official :(

I can’t look at the pictures ! What a shame !
Doesn’t seem like the shipper did a good job with packing.
These antique presses are very FRAGILE.

The shipper should of crated the press. With arms tied down, rollers and ink plate taken off and packed separately. I had a press shipped to me with the arm snapped off (just like yours in the picture, and the shipper crated my the press but didn’t tie down the arm. I won’t buy presses this way again
unless it’s fully insured.

Sorry but your press would be very costly to fix. I would save it for parts and look for a new one. Try getting a refund. Seems the shipper did not take the time to crate
the press carefully. Did they just throw the press in a box with some bubble wrap ? Terrible !!!!!!!

Good Luck and terribly sorry

I buy damaged presses for parts. Where’s the press located?

Makes me mad just thinking about it. How sad & frustrating!

I know your pain. I recently purchased a tiny (2x3) Baltimore and I paid quick and unfortunately (in hindsight) he shipped quick. I didn’t get a chance to ask him to package the inking disc and rollers, etc., separately and the ink disc is what got broken. It is at the post office now waiting to see if the insurance paid for will cover it. The saddest thing is to see another old press taken out of commision. I don’t know if the post office will keep it if they pay out. If they keep it will they scrap it? :o( The rest of it is fine. That brittle metal just snapped when bounced against the pawl in rough shipping. It’s a waiting game now with the PO. Maybe they will give me enough money to have it fixed.

CPierson

John: The press is located in CA right now.

Thankfully, the shipper and I have agreed to file a claim and see if the insurance will cover it.

The weird thing is, the Ink plate was removed before shipping, but was no where to be found. Does anyone think pieces of the broken base could’ve fallen out of the box?

Anyone who would ship a press like that without re-enforced wood boards on the bottom, sides and top should refund your money. Often, if the box is damaged or ruptured, it may be re-boxed. The postal service usually puts a notice in the package that it had to be resealed.

I would guess that the pieces that fell out were broken and discarded at some point by the shipping company, then the box was resealed. Very sad indeed. I do hope your insurance covers it.

Hello,
I’d say that press is totaled. It was not properly packed and that is the seller’s mistake. If it was shipped by UPS I doubt they are going to cover it. They want to see that it was bubble wrapped like crazy and double boxed if it is heavy and/or fragile. I know this because I have made a similar mistake.

You will probably have to file a claim with eBay or Paypal to get your money back. Make sure you know how long you have to do this or you could find yourself out of luck.

If at the end of all this you still have with what remains of the press maybe you can sell it to John Horn and send the little bit of extra cash back to the seller.

Daniel Morris
The Arm Letterpress
Brooklyn, NY

This is terribly frustrating to have this damage happen, and especially so unnecessarily. But from your description and photos, it seems like there are really only three problems, right? So it may well be repairable. The missing ink disk is a problem shared by many, many small presses - sombody has an answer out there. The roller arm linkage looks like a clean, simple break that can be welded or brazed by a competent machine shop. That leaves the base problem. While figuring out and making some sort of new base won’t be exactly simple, the base just holds the press, it’s not a complicated mechanism. Where in CA are you and the press? If in the Bay Area, I may be able to get you some help with fixing it. Don’t give up on it!

Dave