Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
What's this plane? *LINK*
Clay Craig in Miami
>I wrote the seller of this, and as a result he posted the extra pics of the sole of this plane a day or so before it ended. Obviously, judging by the price, some folks out there recognize this, but not me ... what is it? (Also, I got the impression from my emails with the seller that he had no expectation this would go so high.)
TIA
Dunno, but sure looks interesting...
Mark Harrison -- in Sydney, Australia
>Spiers or Norris? Certainly looks like from one of those makers. I've never seen anything quite like that before though and I expect the seller hasn't either.
Reminds me of a story. About 12 years ago, I went to an auction and the headline piece was a piece of French Art Glassware (not Lalique but even rarer but my memory escapes me at present). It was bought by the vendor's mother in the early 1960's for the approximate equivalent in today's money of about USD$25 at a garage sale.
The vendor's mother died and the vendor had it on her mantelpiece. The vendor had the auctioneers in to do an insurance valuation of her other posessions (antique furniture mainly) and they apparently caught sight of this item and held their breath with their mouth open.
Turns out this is only one of two known to be in existence in this crappy brown color. There are hundreds in a beautiful blue but this was in crappy brown. I'm sorry, but I still think it was ugly but others evidently disagreed because it sold for over $80,000!!!!!! At that time the AUD was fairly close to the USD, as I recall.
It's a true story, I was there in the auction room. I just wish I could lay my hand on the auction catalog (it's in my filing cabinet somewhere!) because it is really bugging me who the maker was. I will re-post (if anybody is interested) if I find the catalog.
Re: What's this plane?
Don Thompson, Cutler Ridge, South of Miami FL
>And it wasn't bid up in a bidding war. The last two guys sniped it hard, increasing the price by almost $400 in one jump.
Re: What's this plane?
Jim Crammond in Monroe, Mi.
>Clay,
While I couldn't find anything that matched this plane exactly in Roger Smith's Patented Transitional & Metallic Planes it is very similar to Knowles style planes. Knowles was the first to patent a metal plane in the US. The very early metal planes frequently have a cast bottom with the iron held in place by a wooden wedge. These planes date from the 1830's to the 1850's, more or less.
Jim
Miter Plane???
Jorge Castaneda
>
Re: What's this plane? *LINK*
Steve Reynolds
>I think Jim pegged it. You can find more information about Hazard Knowles' planes at DATAMP.
Hazard Knowles Planes