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MI240719 Ernst Letiz Microscope A case Leitz microscope that was manufactured in 1924. The SN. is 227,128. The case has the matching serial number. It has a turret head with two objectives, a 3 & a 6. It also has two oculars, a 2 & a 4. The matchng objective cases are in the case. I bought this microscope years ago at a Skinner auction. It came from the estate of the original owner, who was an author of children't science book. Somewhere I have a letter attesting to that, with the author's name. It is in pristine condition. The japannning is bright and glossy like new and the lacquered brass still looks like gold. It was clearly used very little by the original owner. My daugthter and I used it a bit, but very carefully. The case is a black, leatherette covered case. The leather handle is gone now. The case shows minor storage wear but is overall in nice condition except for the missing handle. When this microscope was new it was as good a quality as any made and cost seriious money for that time. Much more than it is now in inflation adjusted dollars. It is nice enough to display as an antique but new enough to work well. Fine $395

MI19075 Nestler This is a set of drafting stencils. The box is marked Western Germany. They are very high quality and came from an estate of 1950s model plane supplies, which is when I date them to. The characters are 1 1/16" high (27mm). There are three planes, numbers, and upper and lower case letters. It seems to be for a German alphabet, but I can't explain why a few letters are missing, like capital F for instance. However, a customer has now explained this. "The reason you don't need a capital F is because it is the same as an E without the lower horizontal. L is the E without the top 2. C and O. P and R, etc. Since it's drafting, you assume that any needed horizontal or vertical lines can be created by the mechanical arm or parallel bar plus triangle. Thus the lack of the B, H, I. Weird little system of efficiency to make the smallest template, but that explains the anomaly." They appear to be unused. Fine $29

MI230136 William Marples A superb as found Marples Ultimatum brace with beech infill. At least 90 percent of these attractive braces have been ruined by thoughtless British dealers who turned them into shiny trinckets for tourists using their buffing wheels. This one has bee in my collection for many years and was originally found on the field at Swinderby, a long defunct antiques fair in Britain that covered an entire WW2 airbase in Lincolnshire. I had many a fun day there. My friend Brian actually found it and I had to buy it off of him at a painful markup. It is so nice that it had to be bought. The brass frame is still crisp with a lovely patina. The beech retains much of its original finish and also has a lovely color. It could be mistaken for boxwood in color, but the grain is very different. Approximately 25% of the ring in the head has fallen out. This is not at all unusual. Bob Baker used to make new rings as a matter of course. I wouldn't worry about it. This is a connoisseur grade tool. G++ $599

MI19027 J. Fenn, Newgate St An particularly clean 3/4 size brace of the type that are commonly called "Lady's" braces, simply for their smaller size. It measures 12 3/4" overally vs. 14 1/2" for a typical Sheffield brace. The difference is much more stark when they are laid side by side than this dimensions imply. It retains most of its original finish on the wood and has a crisp and untouched brass chuck. There are some marks on the brass at the base of the head as if pliers were used to tighten it to the body. In the same spot there are a few chips to the lignum, probably from the same stupid event. This is minor. There are a few marks on the wood but it is mostly quite crisp. The last photo with Ultimatum brace was taken to give you an idea of the difference in size of this brace to a standard size brace. This is a superb tool. G++ $199

MI220216 Petty & Sons This is a pocket knife with quite a few blades for its timre. An early Swiss Army knife. It has a very unusual feature whereby the bottom has a cap that hinges up and slides along the side. I did not understand what this was for, and in playing around with it, I BROKE IT! I feel awful about this, but I broke the little bottom piece off. It would be impossible to fix it without removing the scale on that side. This same scale is missing the two little bits that come after the rivets. Even with this bit broken it is a great little knife, but I sure hope that somebody out there has the wherewithall to fix it. I have noted with arrows where the end piece broke, and also where I think that there was another accessory that broke off and only the shank is left. It measures 3 inches closed up. G+ $99

MI211266 Victorian Prize Medal This is a prize medal that was awarded in 1866 at the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Exhibition of Industry & Art. It is engraved along the edge, "For General Merit Displayed in a Series of Water Color Drawings". It is also engraved for the recipient, "Mr. D. Law". The most likely candidate for this is David Law, who was a successful water color artist and a member of the Royal Watercolor Society. Mr. Law was living in Southampton at this time, so it fits that this would be the Mr. Law on the award. It has a lovely patina and is crisply struck. Just below the castle entrance it is marked, "G.R. Collis, FEC." George Richmond Collis was a sculpture, silversmith, and metal worker on Church Street in Birmingham. I have owned if for many years. I was immediately drawn to it when I bought it. The castle gates on one side have a three dimentional quality to them. One and 7/8" diameter, or 48mm. For the connoisseur. Fine+ $149

MI2106108 Blackhawk Nugget Tool Box and Tools The Blackhawk Nugget was a line of 7/16" drive sockets that came in a futuristic torpedo shaped tool box. The tool boxes are quite scarce and valuable, but with the orignal tools they could be called rare. This particular one belonged to my father. He bought it new around 1950 when he was racing hydrofoils on the Ohio river. He thought that the 7/16" drive was an advantage for use in his pit because it meant fewer sockets and was easily transportable to the races. The besides the unusual drive size, the tools are interesting for a few reasons. The ratchet has a ball bearing drive system and does not use a conventional toothed gear system. It is very smooth and will lock with a small movement. The sockets each have a push button release and lock in place. The later versons of this tool box had a conventional latch. This one has a lever on the side that looks better, but is easy to accidentally release. It was dropped in favor of a more reliable, if less elegant, latch. All of the tools in this box are original to my father buying them new, but I think that he bought extra tools from just the basic set. Also, one or two sockets are be missing (dropped into the Ohio river) and two of the screwdriver bits are cracked and welded. There are 11 deep sockets, 11 standard depth sockets, 5 square drive sockets, 4 screwdriver sockets, a universal adapter, a 1/2" universal socket, a 7/16" to 1/2" drive adaptor, and a ratcheting socket to use with the breaker bar. There is a ratchet, a breaker bar, three extensions, a cross bar for the extensions, a speeder, and a driver handle. Finally, there is a torque wrench that lights up when you hit the set torque. Unfortunately, the piece that you set for the correct torque is gone. It was made out of zinc and it broke a long time ago. The red paint on the box itself is well worn and there are no original decals left on it. There is the remains of a Ferrari sticker that my father put on the box back in 1967. Of course these tools are all US sizes and would not do you any good with a Ferrari.I used these tools myself in the late 70s and 80s, before American cars went all metric. I haven't used this set since then and I thought it was time to find somebody who would be passionate about it. G+ $1995

Delicate Pulls Many years ago, master furniture restorer John Porritt commissioned a master turner to make him a selection of delicate drawer pulls for use in his restoration work. These are the kind of small pulls that you seen on the small drawer of a dressing table, or a British tool chest. John has asked me to sell what is left of them for him, as he is now living in the US and rarely works on this kind of furniture any longer. Over the next weeks, I will be listing them as lots of similar pulls, starting with a few lots this week. None of the lots could possibly be reproduced today for what we are selling them.