All Activity

Thanks Stan. I searched Palmer and came away with a very cool post from the old site. Nothing came up about the Palmer House except a member reminiscing about his parents being specific collectors of its memorabilia. When searching for the old posts on plugs and adapters, all of the old posts came up. Not debating it, but I've been satisfied with what turns up from the old site.

Good morning, I'm going to chime in on this as there still seems to be a lot of confusion over the old website in spite of my best efforts to be clear. Your board of directors spent a significant amount of your dues money salvaging all of the old forums & relocating them to the new website. This took an incredible amount of effort led by Larry Hancock, Lane Shirey, & Jamie along with our current web host. Converting 1990s technology over to 2024 technology did not come easy & crashed the site numerous times in the process. Thanks to these efforts, all of that info is now protected on the new website. It was a near miracle the info was backed up during one of the very few times it was clear of malware. For quite sometime it was believed we could never get it back. I loved the old website, it was simple & easy to navigate. It also was no longer supported by the web host & had been taken over by malware. It had not had a security update since the Windows XP days. Since it was so full of malware, Jamie & I made a shared decision to shut it down, but the info is here.

Can anyone identify the fan? 'Steve Brodie in His Bar, the New York City Tavern' Photographic Print - American Photographer | Art.com

Years back I was at an indoor auction in a small town in central Illinois. They had hay wagons full of stuff to auction in the building. Numerous Antique/vintage fans. My stiffest competition was bidding on a few nice brass fans was an Amish gentleman. The rest of the bidders on the fans would fall out around $40-$50. The Amish guy would be my only competition before the hammer came down. He would always bow out between $50-$60. I can't stand sitting at auctions for too long, it drives me nuts. I left a nice complete GE Round back there which I am confident the Amish guy got for $50. I am sure the guy bidding on the fans were glad to see me go. 🙂 In our area there is what is called an Amish Walmart. They buy and sell for profit electrical goods from estates to a mixed crowd.

No idea. I just saw it was local to me so I asked the seller what the history was on it. That was the story I got.

Yeah I did that for a couple hours the other night lol. Those sconce light figures fooled me for a minute.

Hi Tom, Allan and I will be there from Friday thru Monday. Can’t wait to see everyone!

Marc, if you enter key words into the Google search engine such as "Palmer House Hotel interior 1930", or get creative in your wording in another search, you may cough up an older image in the Palmer Hotel with fans. And then again, you may not.

That's usually my motto as well, when in doubt restore it but I like your idea James, I'll do the mechanicals and think about leaving the "patina"...thank you both!

Only reference to Palmer House found in passing:

@Steve Hankes Thanks for your help so far! All I have left to do is clean the front age and restore the badge. For the rear cage, I ended up using white edge banding around the circumference to mimic the original leathery "stuff". It took some elbow grease to put back on, but I eventually did it. I replaced the original resistor with a 25Ohm 100W resistor. And BOY does it get hot! What resistor are you using, and how hot does yours get? Thanks!

That's a piece of local history. Given where you found it, It likely started its service life on Virginia's Eastern Shore, which was off the grid until the mid 1930s. The only electricity before then was generated by privately owned light plants. If it were me, I'd be inclined to leave it original. It would look great next to a couple of period hand-carved duck decoys. As Steve said, Form W is generally accepted to be 1921. From my experience (others may vary), Form W is one of the lesser encountered form letters of the post-BMY era.

Yeah… that was kind of my fear. Thanks.

I don't recall the post. If it is on the new website, the search feature on the website does not hold a candle to the old website. I have not been able to get on to the old website in months. It is still present in cyber space as the post titles appear when I do Google search using key words. If I click on the post links the website will not allow access anymore. I have given a number of heads up on recent past posts of the importance of salvaging the old website if possible. The years of information and images compiled on it is priceless. It was my database go to when it was functional to pull fan images, electrical trade images, and information for posts of present. I could pull answers to questions and images within minutes using the old website. It appears salvaging it could either not be done, the cost to hire someone tech proficient to do it was out of the budget, or too much hassle to do it. I am sorry, but I can't help you or others anymore with any posts that date back to the old website unless by some miracle it allows access again.

Russ….rick Powell mentioned there used to be a post here about the Emerson’s at the Palmer house….any idea where that’s at? I realty have much luck searching. Not sure if that old post got scratched or if it made it over???

Chicago Hotels | Palmer House®, A Hilton Hotel (historichotels.org) The Palmer House Hilton - Wikipedia

I'm old enough to have had dinner there, took the wife. She and her Mom would venture from the western suburbs to Chicago every Christmas and have a mother daughter day. She loved it there. Property tag is Uber cool...

I bought mine under Lazy Susan.

Back to the Amish estate. Since they don't use electricity, what was it used for?

Agree. I like to buy things that are fun but not necessarily original. I appreciate original and well made recreations.

Russ, I went with your suggestion and did wet sand the bakelite parts to remove the paint. It worked very well. I started with 80 grit, then 100, and finished with 200. The majority of the paint came off. What paint that's left on it is so smooth that I can't even catch any with my nail. We'll see how it looks with the first two coats of primer. No bakelite was scratched or damaged during this process. Thanks !!!

Hi Marc Your Marelli is almost certainly the "AUSTRO" model. If you can locate the serial number, the first two digits refer to the year of production. Model name: from the Italian “austro” = hot wind that blows from the south Years: ~1910-1935 Type: Inclinable head Version: at least 2 versions identified (see below) Blades: 25 cm, blades with round ended blades and asymmetrical for later versions Cage: 9-spoke early style cage and 8-spoke cage for later versions Motor: ball head/brushed Electric current: DC (110, 130, 155, or 240V); AC (110, 130, 165 or 240V) & Universal Weight: 3.3 kg Description: All carried oilers placed above the armature shaft. All models had a ball head/brushed head with diamond shaped ventilation holes (some licensed models had oval holes). Models came in DC, AC as well as a Universal motor (AC/DC). Lever ON/OFF speed control (2 speeds). Brass/NPB oilers above the armature shaft. Serial numbers (typically 7 numbers) painted in gold to base. Pinstriping to base and head. All models carried tab feet and lever ON/OFF speed controls (2 speeds).

Jeeze Joey, I thought you lived up there... That said, and I am not saying a word about repop, to each their own, but once it's done to a pretty decent degree, I think it diminishes the value of an original. I doubt 75% of the current collectors give a crap about originality so they're not paying up for an original and you've lost uniqueness.

You can treat it as 1921, or close enough to that date... Sometimes these turn up having been adapted to AC use, but your tag gives no indication of it being other than you determined: a 16-inch D.C. G.E... so restore it, why not?