1894 Golding Pearl No 3 7×11
$2,950.00
Offered here is a lovely piece of printing history, an 1894 Golding Pearl Old Style No 3 7x11 letterpress who has been affectionately nicknamed "Olive." Golding Pearls are much sought after for their compact size, graceful design, smooth operation, and relatively light weight. This is an excellent and beautifully restored example of the model.
This particular press left the Golding factory in Boston on December 21, 1894 and somehow, over the course of time, made its way to a barn outside of Waco, Texas where it languished for decades before I rescued it in 2015 on the eve of its 121st birthday.
The most noteworthy aspect of this press, perhaps, is her vibrant hue. When Olive came to me, she was already clad in green. In a world full of drab, black presses she stood out from the very beginning, and as I began working on her, the color continued to grow on me until I reached the decision that she just shouldn't have a funereal black finish. And thus Olive lives on, irrepressible as ever. 🙂
Olive has undergone a full mechanical and aesthetic restoration, the scope of which included:
1. Complete disassembly
2. Stripping and new paint
3. New main shaft and small drive gear professionally machined
4. New roller hooks and springs
5. New rollers and trucks
6. Sourced original feed table brackets; new feed table
7. Sourced original replacement ink disc
8. Sourced original large gear (not an easy task!)
9. Sourced original grippers; new gripper rail professionally machined
10. New main platen bolt professionally machined
11. Sourced original gripper actuator arm
12. Cleaned/cleared all oilways throughout
13. All new springs
To be honest, this list is probably just a beginning and only encompasses the things I can remember as I'm writing this. Olive has been a labor of love in every sense of the word, and literally everything that could be replaced, improved upon, or reconditioned was carefully done with no expense spared. To that end, what you see pictured here is a press that now functions better than ever, perhaps even better than when she was new.