The pad
is cast iron;
the wrist handle is American walnut:
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Shepardson
March 1, 1870
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Inside view of chuck
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B&D-155
Price: $70.00
plus shipping
There
are no issues with this brace, whose chuck works as intended, and whose
handles are fresh and undamaged, retaining their smooth finishes. With
a little adjusting of brightness and contrast, as well as some unsharp
masking, the maker's name and patent date can be clearly read. The
construction of the wrist handle is in two halves that are held
together by brass ferrules, but the endwise location is by an unknown
and hidden mechanism, none of which anticipates the teachings of the
later patents of McCoy (U.S. Patent No. 118,039) or Allen (U.S. Patent
No. 675,917). Compare the contemporary Holt brace's wrist handle
(B&D-157).
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Shepardson makes no
claim of originality for the design of a wrist handle in his
description of the art of making this brace. He doesn't even mention
the construction of the present brace's wrist handle ...
On the other hand, the present brace's chuck, while following the
dictates of the patent to the letter, will actually hold only bits that
have comparatively small tangs, so one might consider it to be a piano
maker's brace.
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