Category: General discussion
Later topic: Disassembling Vandercook No. 4 Rollers
Earlier topic: copper die for printing

Of interest to Golding Pearl, Official, and Jobber owners

A long time ago – probably around 30 years or so - I came into possession of the Golding factory log book of serial numbers for the three lines of presses that they manufactured: Pearls, Officials, and Jobbers. The log came to me from a friend, the late Harold Bacon, of Framingham, Mass. He had got it from a friend who worked for
Thomson National Press Co., which occupied the building in Franklin, Mass. that had been the Golding factory until Golding went out of business in 1927.

Over the following 30 years I have looked up press serial numbers in the log for Pearl owners all over the U.S., and indeed, the world. As a ball-park guess, I would say I’ve looked up perhaps as many as 500 presses over the years.

I have scanned the log book pages, and once again with the generous help of Dr. David M. MacMillan, they are now online.

http://circuitousroot.com/artifice/letters/press/presses/golding/logbook...

If you own a Golding Pearl, Official, or Jobber, (or a Golding paper cutter) you will most likely be able to find your press in the book. (Whoever compiled the book or typed the entries didn’t always include every press, but he got most of them.)

-Steve Saxe

Log in to reply   9 replies so far

Thanks for posting this, Steve. I have always wondered what this log book looked like. I just looked up the Golding presses that we have in the shop right now-
Golding Pearl Oldstyle #1- “Finished March 7, 1890”
Golding Official #4- “March 1914”

It is pretty amazing to still have access to this information.

Daniel Morris
The Arm Letterpress
Brooklyn, NY

Daniel,
I’m delighted to see that you’ve looked up your presses in the log book, and found them. For about 30 years I’ve been doing that for people all over, and sending the information to them by letter, and then email. Now I can retire from that!
-Steve

I would also like to thank you for making such a valuable resource available. In addition, I want to thank you for being the care-taker for such items all these years and believing in their importance during a time when much was trashed.

What a wonderful resource you’ve made available to us. You were kind enough to look up my tabletop press a few months ago for me. I now have a Golding Pearl and was able to successfully look it up myself on the site you provided. Thank you so very much for maintaining and preserving that piece of history.

Thank you! I looked up my newly acquired Jobber! March 25, 1881!

I have a Jobber no. 6 with the serial number 82. Would that indicate it dates from sometime between 1879 and 1887?

Thank you, Dave

Yes, it would Dave. As you saw the log book starts with serial number 261 for presses completed in June of 1887. Also, figuring the number made per typical year would indicate your press is likely several years earlier than 87. Post a picture if you can. It would be interesting to see if the design was much different than the 87 model.

I sure will … I just bought it this week and unloaded it yesterday. I will take a few photos once I get it cleaned up and printing again. I think it’s 98% there, but until I put some ink on it, I won’t know for sure!

Steve - thank you for reminding me of Harold Bacon, he was a delightful person. I once bought a wooden type cabinet from him, and was impressed at the lengths to which he went to clean and preserve his type.