Information on (2) Presses

Good Morning!

I got quite the anniversary present. My husband gifted me with 2 presses. He is such an enabler….

The little one clearly has Kelsey on the side of it.

However, the larger one is missing any sort of identifying mark on it. We see no maker’s mark on any portion of the press itself and we were unable to find any sort of serial numbers on it either.

At first, we thought the larger one might have been a Golding press. But most pictures we’ve seen of the Golding press has a side arm, not one in the front.

We’re interested in seeing if anyone here may have any additional info on the baby Kelsey as well as any ideas on what the tabletop press may be. The interior dimension of the chase measured out to be 8x12.

Thanks!

Lynda

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Well, you’ve got us all running for our reference material.

The little Kelsey is very early and rare. I haven’t seen any with that particular roller mechanism. It probably dates to the late 1870s or early 1880s.

The larger press is unknown to me. It is not made very strong and I think it would break under any hard use. I see no common parts to any press I have ever seen.

Bill

Hi Bill!

Thanks for the information! I’m lugging them both up to visit Letterpress Things in Chicopee, MA next week.

Hopefully we’ll be able to identify the larger one. The motion and mechanism on it works smoothly and splendidly.

I’m looking forward to getting them both in working condition again.