What’s in a picture?

The current Bogg’s auction on Wired Bids,

https://www.wirebids.com/auctions/view/february-1st-printing-bindery-har...

features 2 Heidelberg cylinders with inking systems, a C&P platen, plus a Miehle Vertical that caught my eye. The Vertical is a clean machine, has a die jacket on it, and from the pictures looks like a well maintained and cared for machine. And the current bid price is $1.00. But, pictures on examination can tell a lot about a machine. For printing, there’s no ink fountain though the ink rollers are there, a tell tale sign the printing has been limited to numbering or maybe imprinting. Serious work requires an ink fountain. Then a really nice feature is the later design chase clamp that has a lifting handle. The older style used a pin wrench that rounds out the hole and lifting it becomes problematic. It also has no offset spray unit which can be a real bonus if present. Plus it has a number of chases.

I have 2 extra V-50 ink fountains I’d like to part with, so that short coming on the press can be solved. But, as with many presses, an ink fountain off one press might not work on another as these things were fitted by hand to each press as they were being built. As nice as this press appears, I’d approach it only after a close examination of the photos to make sure it would fit one’s needs.

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