BELL FOUNDING TOOLS

This story is about a set of tools I purchased at a Willimantic auction several years ago. These tools were part of the Blacker estate  that was  auctioned off over several months by auctioneer Ernie Eldridge. Blacker was a well-known Norwich collector.  After doing some research I realized they were  specialized founding tools probably owned at one time by a traveling bell castor.  Back in those days because the bells were so heavy the bell maker or “founder”, would travel from town to town and make the larger bells on-site. Many at the Auction thought I was crazy for the amount I paid for an old box of junkie looking tools. The reason I bid on  them was I recognized one of the tools in the box as being similar to one sold at a previous auction for over $100 all by itself.

What the bell maker would do is form a model of the bell using beeswax straw etc. and make a sand mold from that pattern.These tools basically were used for cleaning up or shaping the sand casting mold. There are also a few tuning forks which were used in the process of finishing and tuning the cast bells.

 

 

While doing some research for this on the Internet I found out that there was a gentleman named Benjamin Hanks who was born in Mansfield Connecticut in 1755 and in 1786 Hanks established a foundry just south of the courthouse in Litchfield. He became famous for making church bells at this foundry. He ran the businesses out of his home until 1790 when he moved to Mansfield Connecticut where he continued his businesses .In 1808 Hanks became a partner in a foundry with his son Julius Hanks in Troy New York .Wouldn’t it be nice if I could tie these tools to this gentleman . I can’t however but it is a good representation of the type of hand tools that were  used during his time.

My Modest Son

I got a phone call while eating my breakfast this morning. A friend called to tell me that my son Eddie was a guest on our local AM radio station WINY 1350 in Putnam Ct. I tried to listen by clicking on their icon on my desk top only to be redirected to a page with instructions on how to download their app to a smartphone. By the time I found a radio in the house, switched it on, switched it to AM, dialed in 1350, I got to hear him speak half of the  answer to their last question.

I gave him a call. “Good morning, what’s new?”.” Not much” he says. ” Did you have a nice Thanksgiving ? ” I ask. ” Yup”. “I heard you did an interview on the radio.” “Yup .” It aired this morning but I missed it, when did you do it ? “It was live , I did it this morning.” Why didn’t you tell me or let me know. “I didn’t tell anyone but my girlfriend so she would know why I was leaving so early.”

I hope WINY will Podcast the interview on Face Book. I would like to hear it. Maybe Gary “O” got him to tell his amazing story of what he has accomplished at this early point in his life.

I Googled “Modest”

Sure enough, there he is.

 

First blog post

I am 68 years young and have been buying, selling, and collecting neat interesting things for most of my life.

As I move along to the end of this wild and exciting trip I have been on , I have decided to catalog and share some of the interesting stuff in my collection.

There will be no specific theme, item or genres. During my career I have done many things and some of the items involved I sometimes put aside for their uniqueness , beauty or historical value.

As an example here is one of my favorites.

I call her Rosie. I think she was someone’s special lady in Europe a couple centuries ago. Her journey to me from far away is an unwritten novel that I can only sketch in the next to the last chapter.

There was a local couple , about my parents age , who lived a couple miles from where I grew up. The father was born in Estonia around WW 1. He emigrated to New York as a young man and got involved in construction. He was smart and worked hard and saved enough to marry a girl from “back home” and bring her to New York. WW 2 was heating up in Europe and he heard that the Germans were building rockets that would be able to reach New York City. He came up to Killingly Ct. and bought a 100+ acre farm and left his wife and first born to live there out of harms way while he went back to work in New York. After the war he rejoined his family here .He like many other immigrants to this area went into the poultry business. He was successful and for several years after the war he an his family sponsored several dozen European displaced  families into Northeast Ct.

He passed away and his wife and oldest son sold the farm  and moved to a rented house. The son worked part time for me and when he and his mother both passed away I helped his sister liquidate the estate and clean out the house.  I was operating  the State Side Salvage business at that time. It was a lot of work and I got to keep any thing that was “dumpster bound”. I helped her load U hauls of what she wanted to keep for her and her family. I refused to accept any cash and near the end of the several weeks of part time work  she handed me “Rosie” wrapped up in a bag ,told me the story, and assured me that her Dad would want me to have it. It had been brought from the old country by one of the persons her parents sponsored who had given it to them as a gift.

If it was ever signed that is gone. It has a # 13 on the back. It measures 30cm X 66cm.

The last chapter- yet to be written. It has been about 10 years ago that I named her Rosie because of the color of her cheeks.Ironically my youngest grand daughter Monroe has been nicknamed “Rosie” by her Aunt Nicky .

They are both beautiful and special to me !