Lathe collectors’ London purchases delivered

Press, 5 September 1981, Page 7

Lathe collectors’ London purchases delivered

Ashburton reporter Five Holtzapffel ornamental turning lathes, made more than a hundred years ago, ' have been delivered from London to a collector at Ashburton. Mr Robert Lynn, of Ashburton, a retired joiner who collects old wood-working machinery and tools, together with . a friend, Mr George McEwen, of Nelson, lodged joint bids on more than 30 lots for auction at Christies, London, in May. They also bid successfully

on an old grinder and 13 lots of tools, including braces and. planes, some of which are more than a century old. Mr Lynn, who already owns the only Holtzapffel lathe known to be in New Zealand, said that the lathe pictured would be sent to Mr McEwen. It is just over 100 years old. It was ordered in May, 1878, by Mr Arthur Rokeby Price, of London, but was not delivered to him until 1880. He paid £75 for it but what the successful 1981 bid was is not being revealed.

These lathes, once the property of royalty and the rich, are capable of work far more complex than that required of the wood lathes of today. Power is delivered from a treadle to the chuck, and also from an overhead shaft by way of belts to a pattern frame parallel with the work. On this an almost infinite combination of shapes can be turned. Mr Lynn has found from the British-based Society of Ornamental Turners, of which he is a member, that

there are about 250 Holtzapffels known still to exist, and perhaps 50 which have not been accounted for. About half of those known are held in museums. There are now five known to be in New Zealand, two in Australia, eight in North America, and the remainder in Europe.