Auction 081322 Summer Americana Auction
By Casco Bay Auctions
Aug 13, 2022
147 Main Street, Freeport, ME, United States

The auction has ended

LOT 586:

COLUMBIAN PRESS 1813 EAGLE COUNTERWEIGHT


Start price:
$ 2,000
Estimated price :
$2,500 - $3,500
Buyer's Premium: 20%
sales tax: 5.5% On the full lot's price and commission
tags:

COLUMBIAN PRESS 1813 EAGLE COUNTERWEIGHT
Spread-wing, full relief figure of eagle in cast-iron, its talons grasping the thunderbolts of war, the olive branch of peace and the cornucopia of plenty, with original forged steel mounting post, with a separate, later concrete block base; eagle (not incl. post or base) 20 x 16 1/2 inches; The Columbian iron hand press was invented in 1813 by Philadelphia mechanic George Clymer (1754-1834). Clymer made several dozen presses before leaving Philadelphia in 1818 to manufacture presses in England by Ritchie & Co. The eagle counterweight balanced on the counterpoise lever on the top of the press. The eagle counterweight design appears to be directly copied from the eagle device found in various insignia of the War of 1812 era, including cockade eagles and cap plates, the dies of which were sculpted by Moritz Furst of the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. Literature: An engraving of the press is pictured in The American Eagle by Phillip M. Isaacon, (Little Brown & Co., 1977), p. 50, taken from the Cyclopaedia (Philadelphia, 1813).