It’s pretty clear from my website that I am a Golding enthusiast.  You will find a lot of information I have gathered on the brand.  I have restored over 100 presses in the last decade and the vast majority were Golding models.  I have done a lot of research on Golding as a result.  I also have found some pretty rare models often without realizing it at first.  It’s great fun.  I am thankful to have found this hobby after retiring from the sales world.  It fits me very well and given me countless hours of pleasure.  That said, I thought I knew most models as a result of my research efforts and hours of restoration. Then I saw this press on Ebay in March of 2021. It was labeled as a Golding Jobber and my first thought was no way. This is not a Golding.  I know that model very well.  It must be mislabeled.  But no,  it was in fact a Golding Jobber of a design I have never seen.  Asking the letterpress community resulted in a similar reaction.  No one had ever seen one that looked like this.   So………I bid on it.  I was the successful bidder, and my wife and I headed out to Lewisburg, PA to retrieve it.  The drive was over eight hours total but the press was now in my garage safe and sound.   Seen below is a copy of the original bill of sale for the press.  It was sold on March 12, 1879 to a gentleman in Taunton, Ma. for the sum of $211, with the novelty of returning $11, making it an even $200.  I purchased it on March 13, 2021 for $1250.00.  A dollar in 1879 is now worth approximately $27.65 taking inflation into account.  That means the press would cost about $5500 new in today’s dollars. Not an inexpensive purchase back then.  Ten years after it was originally purchased it was sold to the family of the seller.  It was in  the possession of that family for 133 years until I purchased it.  

The press is constructed much like the Old style Pearl in that the frame is bolted together.  The treadle can be moved left or right to make it easier to treadle with either foot.  There are many broken parts that need difficult repairs as well.  I will take them one at a time and hopefully resolve each one.  And so it starts!

 Click on this original bill of sale to go to the restoration story.

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