The James Gillespie Estate Soldiers & Cast Iron Toys Auction
These one-of-a-kind pieces are part of an incredible historic find of original pre-toy industrial wooden casting prototypes from the legendary J. & E. Stevens Company factory in Cromwell, Connecticut. The group includes a mixing or cutting blade pattern, an impeller pattern, and a lathe face plate pattern. The mixing or cutting blade pattern has one side broken off. J. & E. Stevens produced tools before concentrating on toys. These patterns were used at the factory as historic display items and were later found in storage there before the factory’s demolition. Each is hand-carved wood and was used in preparation for casting parts, circa 1880. The typed display cards paired with them were likely created by factory executives in the 1930s or mid-20th century to catalog and preserve the oldest remnants of the foundry’s 19th-century manufacturing history. The largest measures approximately 8" D. The overall condition ranges from fair to very good.
Condition: MIXED VG/F
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