[Bell Historians] Re: NV bells

[Carl S Zimmerman]

My correspondent has now reported to me that he and NV bell No.672 
are located somewhere in western New York state, not far from 
Buffalo. Unfortunately, he does not remember the exact name and 
location of the church from which it was removed c.1970. But he sent 
an excellent photo which makes it very clear that he reported both 
the serial number and the year (1858) correctly. There was only 
slight superficial rust damage before the bell and its fittings were 
protected by paint, which does not obscure any of the details. You 
may be able to view the photo here:
http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/csz_stl@swbell.net/detail?.dir=/32be&.dnm=cd19.jpg
but be warned that it will be surrounded by a lot of advertising material!

As George Dawson reported to me some time ago, the 1860 NV octave in 
Lancaster, Pennsylvania bear serial numbers as follows:
1. 1883
2. 1523
3. 1819
4. 1631
5. 2050
6. 1834
7. 2211
8. 1682
That certainly doesn't look like they were made as a set--rather they 
were assembled as the "best fit to an octave" from a lot of 
individual castings made over a period of several months. (But it 
does fit with DC's statement about "high 1000's" c.1858.) Was this 
also typical of the various NV steel rings that have existed?

_____
At 23:14 +0100 2004/04/29, David Cawley wrote:
>Going by other Naylor Vickers bells I have seen in my considerable 
>researches, any bell in the 200's would be dated pretty early; 
>certainly not as late as 1858, when as was stated they were in the 
>high 1000's. These serial numbers are so difficult on some bells, 
>and become shapeless lumps or mere mounds. They are eaily mis-read 
>as can be deduced from perusal of Chalford details (1857) in a 
>certain publication. The only alternatives are (in view of the 
>discovery of another one reported by Carl) that NV shipped off a 
>whole lot of bells in 1858 to the USA with low serial numbers, which 
>are not matched by examples in England; or that I am wrong 
>altogether !
>
>DLC