$16,450
Exhibition-Standard Collection of Ninety-eight Working Miniature Tools, early 20th century, mainly woodworking and foundry tools, assorted garden tools and a reel-type lawn mower, in two brass-bound velvet-lined glazed display cases, tools 1 - 7 in. , cases overall lg. 16 1/2 x 18 3/4 in. Note: The work of Joseph Larger of Youngstown, Ohio, an Austrian immigrant who arrived in America in 1888 at the age of four. Larger began creating the tools in 1900 and was to continue working on them for the rest of his life. In 1939, the collection was displayed at the New York World's Fair, where, according to accompanying newspaper article, their creator turned down an offer of the then considerable sum of $3,000 from Mr. Wrigley of chewing gum fame. (Another article puts this event in 1933, which would have coincided with the Chicago World's Fair). All of the tools are working replicas of their full size equivalents. The vice, for example, took 150 hours to complete and others took up to 250 hours. Some of the tools reflect Larger's career working in a Youngstown steel mill, but most are just tools that appealed to his sense of scale and precision, like a reel-type lawn mower and a Stanley-style carpenter's plane. It was Joseph Larger's wish that his miniature tools should one day reside at the Smithsonian, however upon his death (around 1970) they passed to a family friend, and thence to a collector from Youngstown. Accompanying the Lot is a small collection of period newspaper a Read more…
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2007-03-24
