LOT Holabird-Kagin Americana  /  2012 Hot August Auction  / 

1073

Spring-Clip Thimble Model Candlestick - , - c1904 - 2012aug - Mining Hard goods/Important Mining Pu

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Western Americana Start Price:2,500.00 USD Estimated At:5,000.00 - 7,000.00 USD
Spring-Clip Thimble Model Candlestick - , - c1904 - 2012aug - Mining Hard goods/Important Mining Pu
Invoicing and lot pick up will NOT be available at the live auction.
This is an extremely rare candlestick. Measures about 12” with riveted steel with no screws or plating. Stamping on the spike reads CURTISS and other on the thumb lever reads PAT. AUG 2, 1904. Patented by Edgar W. Curtiss, this model of candlestick was intented for mass distribution, but Curtiss died shortly after the patent was granted, and only a few were ever made. Before his death, Curtiss owned a mine in Baker County, Oregon that would later become the Virtue Mill. The Virtue Mill was a major and important mine in the state of Oregon. Wilson 182, RCS 81. From Eichler’s notes:

“Edgar Curtiss was the proprietor of a blacksmithing service in Baker City (now Baker) Oregon, at the time his patent was granted. Prior to that he worked in various capacities at many of eastern Oregon’s better-known lode gold mines. This included helping with the installation of an aerial tram at the old Cornucopia Mine – a task for which he had experience in the form of bridge building work for the Oregon Short Line Rail Road at the time the first tracks were laid. In fact, it was this railroad employment that brought him to Oregon initially in about 1884.

Little is known today concerning George Fronhofer other than that a Baker City Directory of 1903 lists him as the proprietor of a meat market. Because of this, the logical presumption is that his interest in the patent represents participation in the capacity of a financial backer of the enterprise rather than as a co-inventor. In any event, Curtiss is the partner who had the mining and blacksmithing background and who is listed first in the patent record. Also “Curtiss” is the only name appearing on the finished products made under this patent.

The Curtiss sticks are unique in that they are made of separate sticker bars, handles, hooks and holder unites all bolted together rather than welded. Moreover, all parts are clearly precision-made and threaded where necessary for the bolts. The question arises, therefore, as to whether Curtiss fabricated these components himself or contracted their manufacture with the view of doing only the final assembly work in his shop. Whichever way it was, there is no available record to the effect that Curtiss actually marketed his product. Instead, there is some evidence to suggest that he may not have. At least, Eldon Curtiss, Edgar’s grandson, recalls that many crates of parts were still in storage in the family woodshed in 1915 at which time his father assembled eighteen candlesticks which were subsequently sold to the general merchandising store operated by Mr. J. J. O’Dair in Granite, Oregon. Granite was a mining center located in the Blue Mountains approximately 45 miles by road west of Baker and Eldon recalls the event vividly because the entire Curtiss family made the trip at the time the sale was transacted and then camped for a couple weeks afterwards while his father did some work on a mining claim he owned nearby. Another interesting side-light to this recollection is that Eldon remembers the parts being so rusty that his father rigged a wire brush to a bicycle in order to clean them before assembly.

Edgar Curtiss died February 28th, 1907, only two years and seven months after his patent was granted. It could be, therefore, that he never got his candlestick business underway beyond the stage of getting the components fabricated during this period and this is why so many unassembled parts were left in storage. In any event, both Eldon and his brother, Warren, recall the existence of three or four fully nickel-plated candlesticks which their father had made up and plated especially for sales display purposes. While these can be taken to indicate he was planning an active sales campaign, they nevertheless don’t stand as evidence that the sales project ever materialized. Under the circumstances it is altogether possible that the 18 units assembled by his son in 1915 constitute the only finished products marketed under this patent. And for what it may be worth, the candlestick used to illustrate the Curtiss product in this article is one of the nickle-plated display specimens—the only one currently locatable. It is a handsome specimen in totally new, un-used condition.”

- Ken & Rosemary Roberts Collection -59208
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