Shown below is a selection of some of the tools that we sold in Sale No. 38 and ealier

			A very rare and important 16th C. wrought iron plane. The sole, measuring 10 1/4" x 3", is in two parts tenoned at the mouth and overhanging 1/8" all round extending to 1 3/8" at toe. The sides are cut away, moulded, chamfered and attached to the sole with through dovetails, the front extends upwards to form the front grip, stamped with an S touch mark repeated on the iron, the carved walnut wedge held behind a turned and moulded bar (this plane features in P-Tampia p.12). G		£7600	Sale No. 40 28 Sept. 2002 Lot 909
			Top: A fine 18th C. French surgeons' saw with oval section square frame, brass tensioner and elaborate two-tone kingwood handle. Chipped spur otherwise G+ Bottom: A 16/17th C. European armourers' saw, 17" o/a centrally decorated with the face of a cherub framed with leaves, simple tensioning device, and ancient frame reinforcement. Replaced handle. G		£460 £2000	Sale No. 40 28 Sept. 2002 Lot 187 Lot 188
			A rare 12" brass parallel rule by BLEULER London with pierced cruciform linkage and scales on reverse. G++		£820	Sale No. 40 28 Sept. 2002 Lot 770
			A rare little used 20 7/8" d/t steel NORRIS adjustable jointer with rosewood infill and handle, all orig. Early Norris 2 1/2" iron remains still with orig. grinding and very fine mouth. G++ A 17 1/2" late model NORRIS A1 adjustable panel plane with beech infill and handle. 95% orig. Norris 2 1/2" iron remains. G+		£3600 £330	Sale No. 40 28 Sept. 2002 Lot 2147 Lot 2148
			A rare four-piece stem rosewood mortice and marking gauge by C. SCHOLL with brass tips, slide and wear discs. Pat'd. March 8 1864. G++		£460	Sale No. 40 28 Sept. 2002 Lot 1116
			A fine 19th C. Japanese okimono 2 1/2" high of a drum maker with tools in hand working on a large drum with a 3 drawer tool box and various other containers, a smaller drum sits in the foreground with a two character signature of the Meiji period, unblemished. G++		£1300	Sale No. 40 28 Sept. 2002 Lot 1781
			A set of four 19th C. French iron violinmakers' planes 2", 1 7/8", 1 1/2" and 1" all with round soles, two with toothing irons. G+		£480	Sale No. 40 28 Sept. 2002 Lot 2069
			A rare French patent 6" ivory and brass mapping tool, graduated in twelve scales for various countries, perfect lacquer in orig. case. F		£480	Sale No. 40 28 Sept. 2002 Lot 871
			A rare 7" decorative iron inclinometer level by DAVIS LEVEL & TOOL Co.		£400	Sale No. 39 23 March 2002 Lot 1398
			A very rare HOWKINS Model A patent bronze combination plane with 15 cutters, long arms and both fences marked Pat. 15336/13.		£660	Sale No. 39 23 March 2002 Lot 498
			An attractive 19c French veterinary double blade fleam with unusual hinged horn scales by GASSELIN, Paris.		£150	Sale No. 39 23 March 2002 Lot 792
			A unique early 12" b/b tenon saw by MOULSON BROS. with ebony handle extending 5" along the blade, 1" dia. medallion set into handle marked "Moulson Brothers Manufacturers Union Works Sheffield" Brass back also stamped London Spring, spurs chipped and minor shrinkage cracks.		£620	Sale No. 39 23 March 2002 Lot 432
			Left: A rare 10 5/8" d/t steel NORRIS No. 11 mitre plane with rosewood infil and orig. Ward 2 1/2" snecked iron. This is a non-standard width and would have been made to special order. Right: A very little used NORRIS No. 50G adjustable steel soled gunmetal coffin smoother with walnut infil and handle. 95% orig. Norris 2 ¼" iron remains and much orig. lacquer.		£3,600 £1,000	Sale No. 38 3 November 2001 Lot 1929 Lot 1920
			A very decoratively engraved 5" ceremonial pierced axe head dated 1604 and inscribed "Mensch, bedenk was du tust, das end das wird die hochst weisheit genennt".		£1,400	Sale No. 38 3 November 2001 Lot 429
			A very rare six-fold boxwood and brass plane table rule measures 15" x 12" when open, small stain.		£440	Sale No. 38 3 November 2001 Lot 527
			A large 19th C. gear driven Swiss mandrel with brass frame and steel bar with elaborate joint 5 3/4" solid plate c/w compound slide, handtool rest and meeting centre on orig. walnut stand. This exceptional tool has been refinished to a high standard marked with a "lion couchant".		£1,050	Sale No. 38 3 November 2001 Lot 1167
			A rare NORRIS No. 31 malleable iron thumb plane with rosewood infill and orig. Norris iron.		£1,200	Sale No. 38 3 November 2001 Lot 1944
			Clockwise from top: A very rare K6 1/4 pt. Patent seamless oil can by KAYES with corrugated sides. A rare 1/3 pt. oil can by KAYES with corrugated body and base of spout. JK stamped on brass oil cover and Kayes Patent on plaque on side with crest. A rare 1 pt. oilcan by ENOTS No. 30D with brass handle, cap and plate with the inscription "Lady of the Lake" (the name of the traction engine it serviced).		£340 £240 £360	Sale No. 38 3 November 2001 Lot 860 Lot 861 Lot 865
			A fine and little used 18th C. Dutch blockschaaf with Goodman type C mouth, and scroll carving around 1772 and roundel carved on wedge by I.BIGGELAAR		£1,200	Sale No. 38 3 November 2001 Lot 1119
			A set of 11 screw boxes and taps by Holtzapffel contained in a baize lined oak case. Made to the usual high Holtzapffel standard, each of the lacquered brass stocks was engraved with the name of the maker.		£6,400	Sale No. 37 30/31 March 2001 Lot 1560
			A dated 12" four-slide boxwood gauger's rule by Edw. Roberts Maker in Dove Court London, also stamped Robert Grand 1761		£650	Sale No. 37 30/31 March 2001 Lot 1286
			Left:A unique small 5 3/8" d/t steel Norris No 11 mitre plane with rosewood infill and wedge, the brass bridge with cupids bow decoration, the body, iron and wedge all stamped 2. This was not a sale with a large offering of Norris planes but as predicted made the best price amongst the Norris planes Right: : A very rare 3" gunmetal chariot plane by Spiers, Ayr (upside down mark) with rosewood infill and wedge. Full orig. snecked 13/16" iron. This is only the second Spiers wedged chariot plane found. It is also unusually small.		£5,000 £1,800	Sale No. 37 30/31 March 2001 Lot 2444 Lot 1500
			Top:A dated 18th C. Austrian R/H side axe with moulded and chisel decoration to blade, also nicely engraved EM over 17 IM 45 in Coronet and foliate design The mark on the blade is not a crack but a fault in the making. The handle, if not original, is early, with good patina. Bottom: A fine and large 18th C. Austrian goosewing side axe with 24" edge (the largest we have offered) with minimal decoration to both sides.		£420 £370	Sale No. 37 30/31 March 2001 Lot 1603 Lot 1604
			Diderot. Encyclopedia. 8th livraison or 9th volume. Paris 1771. Savonnerie to Tapisserie. 253 plates with text. 16" h/b. Orig. marbled end papers, orig. French full leather binding.		£1,000	Sale No. 37 30/31 March 2001 Lot 31
			A rare long model Ultimatum brass framed beech brace by Marples with early ring pad and ivory ring in an ebony head and "67 Spring Lane" on medallion.		£1,250	Sale No. 37 30/31 March 2001 Lot 2333

			This finely made coachbuilder's plough plane in rosewood and brass with squirrel tail and single stem had features common to both the I. Sym ploughs and the Falconer's ploughs. Although without a maker's mark, it found an appreciative buyer at .		£2,500	Sale No. 36 30 Sept. 2000 Lot 1414
			A very fine early 19th C. American narwhale walking cane with turned base and octagonally chamfered top. With turned walrus ivory knop, nicely engraved I THOMAS MIDD'h MASS and dated 1838. A wonderful example.		£1,000	Sale No. 36 30 Sept. 2000 Lot 1880
			Stanley No 11 iron bullnose rabbet plane There can be few items easier to overlook in the bottom of a tool box than one of these, an iron bullnose plane, only 4" long, mostly finished in black. But you will have to look in boxes in England because the very few examples of this plane that are known have been found in the UK. Why the manufacture was stopped almost before it had started is open to much conjecture. However a real rarity - it sold for .		£2,200	Sale No. 36 30 Sept. 2000 Lot 51A
			Triple iron moulding planes are not easily found. When they are by Mathieson this is an added advantage and a pair of such planes are even more desirable. These two planes were not an exact pair - the one plane had an extra ovolo but had clearly been bought together.		£640	Sale No. 36 30 Sept. 2000 Lot 2282
			A magnificent rosewood stringing router with heavy brass fittings with two irons for nicking and follow on grooving. Two adjustable fences set in inlaid brass slides, a very fine quality tool.		£320	Sale No. 36 30 Sept. 2000 Lot 794
			A fine and rare brass screw stem beech plough stamped C. NURSE, London, but probably made for them by Greenslade of Bristol, with rosewood and brass nuts and brass finials, skate front and unusually, with boxwood fence. A quality piece.		£950	Sale No. 36 30 Sept. 2000 Lot 1434
			A rare complete example of Branan's rule. This rule combined the function of a barrel dipping rod with , when the rule is taken apart, that of a slide rule. Popular belief is that these rules tended to come apart in use and that many of the front ends were lost inside casks.		£ 4,100	Sale No. 35 25 March 2000 Lot 750
			An the extremely rare beech coach builder's plough plane by I.Sym (1753 - 1802). This plane has a flexible steel fence inside the strongly curved wooden fence. The plane is thus capable of "circle on circle" work. Only one other plane of this type is known.		£ 7,000	Sale No. 35 25 March 2000 Lot 800
			E. Wingate: The Use of the Rule of Proportion in Arithmetique and Geometrie 1645. Translated by the author from the French in which it was written some 20 years earlier. The book describes Wingate's own famous arrangements of logarithmic lines based on Gunter's invention and explains their use in astronomy, dialling, gauging, geography, navigation, etc. There is a long fold out plate on which the author's rule is drawn with astonishing precision.. The binding is probably Victorian. A rare chance to obtain such an important piece of history.		£ 1,800	Sale No. 35 25 March 2000 Lot 1237
			An ebony Falconer type plough. We had previously sold this plane for £ 3100 in 1985 since when it had remained in an English collection. The principal feature of the Falconer design is the flexible steel fence that enables the plane to be used for radiused work which, together with the short skate, thus makes the plane suitable for "circle on circle" work. Unlike other known examples, this plane had a side handle. In excellent condition.		£ 7,600	Sale No. 34 5 Sept. 1999 Lot 444
			The Cupid Plane: The ownership of many pictures can be traced back to the original owner. Unfortunately this is seldom possible with tools but the next best thing is a provenance of recent ownership. This plane is first recorded in the Arnold & Walker catalogue No. 1 (1974) when it was offered for £220. Consigned to our International Auction No. 7 (1986) from the Harlow Sternberg estate it fetched £2900. It returned to David Stanley Auctions in September 1998 when it sold for £8250 (including premium). This then is the provenance of this item - part of the catalogue description in 1998 was as follows: "Compass moulding plane 6 3/4" long, 2" wide, German, probably 17th century, of hornbeam. The cutter profile constitutes a repeated cupid bow motif which is itself carried through to the decoration of the plane's escapement, wedge and mortise and in the low relief carving of a cupid which gives this tool its distinctive character. Planes of this type, which are rare, are often thought to have been apprentices' (test) pieces, a theory supported by the existence of some examples which have only wooden dummy irons. However this particular plane has an iron and has quite clearly been used as is shown by wear on the sole"		£8,250	Sale No. 32 26 Sept. 1999 Lot 999
			Note: All prices quoted are hammer price. There is a buyer's premium of 11.75% including VAT.

Click here to go to top of page

Click here for more information about us

Click here to return to home page

© Jane Rees 1999