Brass vs bronze and surface finish [Bell Historians] Establishing the origins and age of a hand bell ?

Wed Jan 15 10:11:29 GMT 2020

Julian and others  

Interesting, my bell is visibly of identical pattern with clapper on a short
chain, but a little smaller. 

The dimensions of mine are  

Outer (maximum) diameter, 3 ¼

Height, 2 3/4" 

Wooden handle, 3

On mine, the metal shaft between the bell and handle is just a ½ metal
ferrule (thin circular ring) covering the end of the wooden handle.  The
handle unscrews easily  it is the top knob that has the screw thread to
keep the bell on the handle.   

So, I agree that yours are probably school bells, the town criers would be
larger still. Mine, as I said would have been a house bell. The larger the
size, the further the sound will carry  ie house, school or town. 

I will be at Taylors later this month so out of curiosity will take mine and
(if I have time) see if anyone in the museum can shed light on it. They may
have a similar one there. 

Alison

From: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com <bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com> 
Sent: 14 January 2020 12:49
To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: Brass vs bronze and surface finish [Bell Historians]
Establishing the origins and age of a hand bell ?

Alison, David, Dickon, and the Group,

Thank you very much for the information.

The polished bell (without the clapper) looks like brass, but are the pair
of identical bells brass? 

Also, is the rough (unpolished?) finish of the surface of the 'shoulder' and
inside of the pair of bells produced by the sand used in casting them?

For completeness, the two bells that are identical have the following
dimensions:

Outer (maximum) diameter, 5 inches

Height, 31/4" (three and a quarter inches)

Wooden handle, 51/2  "  (five and a half inches long)

Metal shaft visible between the bell and wooden handle, about 1/2 " (half
inch).

The (brass) bell without a clapper is a little larger, with an outer
(maximum) diameter of 47/8" (four and seven eighths) and height of 31/2"
(three and a half).

It also has what appear to be a crack (or casting fault?) about three inches
long running horizontally around it just above the third line up from the
base.

With thanks,

Julian

  _____  

From: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com <bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com> on
behalf of Revd David Cawley davidl.cawley at btinternet.com [bellhistorians]
<bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: 12 January 2020 20:24
To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com <bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: [Bell Historians] Establishing the origins and age of a hand
bell ? 

Dickon is absolutely correct when he identifies these as brass bells. 

Taylors used to use a firm in Birmingham to make them for sale, and modern
examples are on sale in the Bell Foundry Museum shop.

The appearance is very much late 19th century to the early 20th century.
Probably school bells though there were any number of uses to which these
robust castings could be put. Usually the handle would break with excessive
use rather than the bell !

DLC

------ Original Message ------
From: "Julian Perfect julianperfect at hotmail.com [bellhistorians]"
<bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com>
To: "bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com" <bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, 11 Jan, 2020 At 14:18
Subject: [Bell Historians] Establishing the origins and age of a hand bell ?
[4 Attachments]

It has been suggested to me that the Bell Historians Group might be able to
provide some information in response to my enquiry below. 

I have a couple hand bells which appear to be identical and cast in bell
metal (please see the first three of the attached photographs, the 2p coin
gives an indication of the dimensions of the bells). I would like to
establish, if possible, by whom, where and when these bells were cast, but
there are no markings that I can see on either of the bells (or their
handles) that might offer any clues. I would be grateful for any
information, ideas, or suggestions about this, please.

I would also be interested to hear any ideas about the origins and former
use of the bell (missing its clapper) shown in the fourth and fifth of the
attached photographs. Again, there are no markings visible on this bell.

With thanks,

Julian Perfect

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