witt ilnnrknnh QrnlltrtnrNumber 34 March-April 1989

Historic wooden doorknobsI

by Maud Eastwood

by Helen & Bill Byington,Co-Chairmen 1989 Convent ion

NASHUA 1845

Wooden doorknobs of the1800's were variouslyharrl-carved or mechani­cally turned or pressed.'!be lineage of domestic19th century wooden knobsmay be fairly easilytraced. 'Ihree manufactur­ers stard out as majorforces in meeti.n;J theneeds of their eras:Nashua, 1840' s; ornamentalWood Co., 1870 's; Jos.Bardsley, 1880's thruearly 1900's. '!be lattertwo companies producedwooden knobs for at leasta dozen important build­er's hardware manufactur­ers and an urrleterminednumber of dealers, thusqualifying as originalsources for a majority ofhistoric wooden knobsfourrl by today's collec­tors. '!be following willextend the usefulness ofthe wooden knob materialfound. on pages 3 ani 222of the Antique Builders '

ORNAMENTAL WOOD COMPANYDESI GNS 1870's

Inn ) in Coralvill e had whatwe wan t ed. We have used thefacility for a number off un c tions , and hope themembers will find its atisfactory. Some of theplans for our pre-conventiontour (on Thur sday bef or e theconvention) include a vis i tto the Herbert HooverLibrary and Park Site and toOld Cap itol, Iowa's f i r s tcapitol i n Iowa City.

More informat ion will beavailable at a l a t er date.We are very sorry that theorigin a l plans did not workout.

istorically, woodserved as theoriginal material

~~~~for fashioning doorhandles, whether elongatedor round, affixed ormovable, domestic orforeign. Few examples ofthese earliest.of the earlyhandmade types survived.However, a wide variety of1800's wooden knobs,reflecting the technicaland artistic progression ofthe 19th century, do existand it is from thesespecimen that collectionshave been and will continueto be supplied. Seriouscollectors should take noteof this minority amongAmerican doorknobs.

Convention Update

Regarding the conventiondates f or 1989, at t heIndianapolis meeting, wet hought things were a l l setf or an August da t e at theHoliday Inn i n I owa , City.Upon checking with theMotel, when we got home, wef ound that there had been amisunderstanding about thedisplay space we needed, andt he days we needed thespace. Af ter consultation

· t h some of the boardember~, t h e de c i s i on was

made to go back to theSeptember da t e s , and TheDays Inn (Formerly Ironmen

Wooden doorknobs continued

Publlshed six times a year by AntiqueDoorknob Collectors of America, Inc.P.O. Box 126, Eola, lL 60519-0126.Printed by SUn Printing, Naperville,ll.

Phoaer 1-312-357-2381.Raymond and Loretta Nemec, Editors.Annual Membership in USA, $20.00Rates on Request for inserts.

m'bt IDoCJrknob ((:ollutor

round, or ball in shapeam formed of oak, Maple,or Walnut. oval, egg andround-fluted shapes and alarge mnnber of exotic andimported. woods were avail­able on special order. In1895 Corbin offered thelargest selection ofawoods, twenty two from '"stock; Ash, birch, Chest-nut, Cypress, Hazel,Maple, oak, Red. oak,Sycamore, Whitewood, andYellCM Pine. At an addi­tional price were: Apple,Butterrn.lt, Bird' s EyeMaple, Black Walnut,Cherry, CUban Mahogany,CUrly Maple , Fast IndianMahogany, Mexican Mahoga­ny, Red. Wood, am WhiteMahogany. Bardsley orna­mentation for wooden knobswas confined. to the melloncut am two to four ringscontinued p. 8

New York's, Jos.Bardsley, manufacturer ofSpring Hinges, Door Checksam wooden lock-trim,provided. wooden doorknobsfor major builder's hard­ware manufacturers amdealers for same threedecades. It is not knownif smaller specialitycompanies of the day, whodealt with certain typesof doorknob fastenings,with wooden knobs anoption (Gilbert, Parker &Whipple, Prouty, am theUni on Doorknob Company.See Am Wex.) contractedwith Bardsley or produced.their own wood knob heads .Bardsley knobs were of­fered. in 1884 throughshannon and Buhl & Son; in1885 by Yale & Towne; inthe 1890' s by Russwin,Corbin, chicago , Skil lmanand Sargent; am early inthe 1900 ' s by Reading,P.E. Guerin and Penn. Theforegoing listing is notpresumed to be complete orthe dates exclusive.

The knob shapes andwoods conunonly carried. instock by Bardsley c0mmer­cial accounts were box,

I MPO RT ED HA RD WOO D KN OBS

BARDSLEY PAT ENT KN OB, 1884

Hardware (ABU) am pages59-66, The Antique Door­knob (TAD) .

These companies variedin their manufacturing ammerch.arrlising methodsaccording to the times.New Hampshire's NashuaLock Co. shCMed littlevariation in knob config­uration am achieved amimpressive productionrecord of 35, 000 pair ofRosewood knobs in 1845.Typically early 1800 ' s inshape, Nashua knobs wereshort, squat, thick-neckedam all-wood construction,and not i.rrpossible to firxitoday. Connecticut's orna­mental Wood Co. (FastlakePeriod) fame was in beingthe first company toproduce am push a line ofwooden knobs with highdesign formed by the useof dies. Their 1870 cata­logue illustrated specificdoorknob designs with abuyer option of furnishinghis own design am payingfor the dies, thus secur­ing exclusive use. Theoutput of this companywarranted a New York citywarehouse. Many collec­tions including examplesof Ornamental Wood Compa­ny's line, notably theRoman soldier with GreekKey border or styliZedleaf design.

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Eola , a quaint little townby Ray Nemec

can you tell me whereEola, Illinois is? Thatis a question we receiveevery so often so weassume same of ourmembers would like toknow more about Eola amwhy the club has it'smailing address there.

Eola appealed to Ire

when I became editor ofthe newsletter. Situatedat the intersection oftwo railroads am betweenNaperville am Aurora,the name was short, easyto write am the box rentwas reasonable. And Eolahad a certain mysteryabout it.

Eola was described byresident Deborah Sklenarfor the Chicago Tribuneas "two blocks in themiddle of nowhere." Eolais unincorporated with apopulation of about 110.Most of the people liveon Eola Road or 4thstreet. '!here is no 1st,2nd or 3rd streets, norfor that matter, no 5thor 6th streets. In 1888the Elgin, Joliet aniEastern railroad, an"outer belt l ine," wasbuilt. An interchangewith the Chicago,Burlington am Quincyrailroad was made atEola. This resulted in aplan for a development tobe called Belt city. '!heplot was drawn but theidea died. Fourth streetis one of the remindersof that effort.

Frederick Stolp, fromNew York state, in searchof thick red soil to makebricks came to the areain 1834. He found it amstayed. stolp built ahome to raise his family.

Post.mast.er Je a n Hatten (le ft ) and hersist e r Beulah Anderson , greet ADC Astaff ~ith friendly sm iles .

A fEM other families soonmoved to the area but notmuch happened unti l the1860' s when the Chicago,Burl ington am Quincyrailroad began layingtracks in the area. Whenthe railroad crossed anearby road they calledit I.1.lrrl's Crossing afterthe fanner who owned theproperty.

According to a story inthe Aurora Beacon- News,''when townfolk tried toget a post office (in1871) they were told tofind another name, sinceI.1.1nd' s Crossing alreadywas taken. 'I

After some discussionthe name Eola, an Indianword for "north wind,"was suggested and accept­ed. With open lam to thewest and north, the nameseemed to be ideal.

The town remains thesame tooay as it was 100years ago, a tiny oasisof rural lif e in a sea ofsuburban boom . '!he onlystorefront is where the

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post office has beenl ocated for many years.

From the very beginningwhen the material forclay br i cks was discov­ered, people have had bigi deas for Eola. A fEMindustries flourished fora tilne . One such industryat Eola was the Rebercanning factory. ClarenceKramer recalled hisexperience for theBeacon-News as a canningcompany employee: "cab­bage, oh, geez . Lots ofcabbage. We would put onboots up to our hips andjump in a vat full ofcabbage. We I d tramp itdown until the j uice cameto the top, then closedthe top." six or eightmonths later, the sauer­kraut was ready. "And Iate that stuff like apig," Clarence said.

Eola has had 19 post­masters since 1871. JeanHatten is the currentpostmaster. She and hers ister, part-tilne employ­ee Beulah Anderson,cont inued p. 7

Eola 's onl y store front is wher ethe pos t office has been locat edfor m any ye a rs.

<!&rnamental besign in antique boorknobsby Len Bl umin

FOURFOLD SYMMETRY

H-220 a,b,cH-241aH-256aH-267a

Domed versions of a pop ular vernacular design.Note the different center design.A fl a tter version of H-256.There are s ever a l versions of this wrought kno b.

H-220a

H-220b

H- 220c

H-241a

H-2 56a

H-267a

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H-472H-473H-474H-475H-476H-477

FOURFOLD SYMMETRY(continued)

Unknown.Nice wrought knob.Too busy f or my t a s t e .Unknown.Unknown.Schroeder, Cincinnati, Ohio. Pattented shank.

H-472

H-473

H-474

H-475

H-476

H-477

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Going, going.... auct ion is popular

The ADCA annual a uc t i onha s been a re gu l ar eventsinc e the fi r s t c onv en t i onat San Francisco in 1982.Convention ho s t Len Bl umi nwas t he fir s t auc t i on eer.The a uc t ion wa s a big h i t ,and Bl umi n had s t ar t ed at r ad ition.

The auc tion affordedoppor t unity f or me mbe r s t osell en t i r e col lec tions ,par t s of a collect ion or as i ng l e knob . The qua l i t y ofthe h ar dwar e in the auc t iona l lowed membe r s a c hance tob i d on many f i ne pie ce s .

The au c t i on wa s aga i ni n c lud ed i n t he 1983convention program a tNaperville, I l l i n o i s , JohnHol land was the auctione er .

When t he convent ion mov edt o Waverly, I owa , i n 1984the ser vic es of VerneAnd r e s s e en , a localauc t i onee r , wer e obtained byAr n i e Fr edr i ck . Andr ee s senbrought a pr ofes sionalappr oa c h to the auc t i on .Everyone f ound itinteresting an d i t wa sgene r a lly accepted t heauction would be a regularf e a ture of a l l fut ur econvention s . It was ho pedAndr ees s en woul d be theauctioneer in 1985 .

When Andree s s e n wa s unableto make the 1985 conv en t i onat St. Lou is, Ray emecbe came the fourth a uctione e ri n four y e ar s .

1986 and 1987 br oughtAndreessen back as hecondu c ted the au c t i ons inMinneapol i s a nd Des Mo i nes .

The 1988 auction pr ov ed areal s ur pri se . A largenu mber of i t ems wer e pla c edin the au c t ion f or s ale.When a pr ofes s i onalauct i on ee r , ob ta i n ed for the

event , was de l a yed inarrivi ng, the club tappednew member Bil l Causey tostar t t he a uc t i on . (Causeyhad ind ica t ed he had don es ome a uc t ioneering as ahobby) His enthusias m as a nauc tioneer me t wi th gr e a ta ppr ov a l an d he f in i s hedwha t he star t ed . Wi t hCaus ey at the helm, thes even t h a nnua l auction setr ecor d s f or the amount ofknobs sold and comm i s sionrece ived by the club.

Again in 1989 , theau c t i on pr omi s e s t o be anev e nt conventioneers wi l lenj oy . The auc tion ha s beenun der the d i r e c t i on of

Bill Causey , 1988 ADCA Auctioneer founding memb er Arn i eFr edr i ck s i n ce 1984 ••

I I

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aThe golden doorknob award

DALLAS, TX February 3,1989 This one-of-a-kindawar d wa s pr e s ente d to

~ en t er t a i ner J i mmy Dean bysongwriter/perfor mer RogerMil l er. I t was created i nr ecognition of Mi l l e r ' sawar d- wi nn i n g song , "King ofthe Roa d," be i ng introduc e don "The Jimmy Dean Sh ow. "The plaque read s , "T o J i mmyDean, f or a mi llion door syou opened for me, Rog e rMiller . "

Th i s c her ished memor ab i l i ahangs in the den of J i mmy' shome .

J i mmy De a n i s c ha i r man oft he boar d of J i mmy Dean MeatCompany . The Dal l as-b a s e dcomp any i s a div i s i on of t heSara Lee Corpor a t ion , ani nt e r n a t i ona l food andc ons ume r pr odu c t s c ompa nywith a nnua l s a l es ofa pproximat e l y $9 bil l i on .

J i mmy , who' s f amous son g ,"Big John " is s t il l h e a r d

~ r e gu l arly on the r a d i o ,, became a member of ADCA i n

1988 . •

ADCA membe r Ji mmy Dean ,gave sin ger /s ong writ er RogerMiller an opportunit y on hisTV program .

Nt:A CONVlHTION

Septemb en. 2/-24, /989

1aoa. Ci..tV' Iowa.

Moving your doorknobs t o a newa ddress" Ple ase let us know. Besur e to in clude your old addre ssalong wi th your new address andma ll the m to ADCA , r ,o, Box 126 ,EoI a , Illi noi s 60519-0126

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Eo l a .. .handle the duties at thepost office includingAJ:X:A mail and an occa­sional telephone callre;rcrrcling the club.

'!here is no maildeliveJ:y to the 40 homesin Eola, so Jean andBeulah get to visit withall their neighborsalmost eveJ:y day . '!hepost office has 178 lockboxes, they are allrented and there is awaiting list.

'!he farm land aroundEola is fast disappearingto developments and themaster plan for Aurorahas Eola someday becominga part of the city.

Jean Hatten and herhusbarrl, Bill , have beenEola residents since1948 . Jean says, "we wantto stay Eola. We thinkwe're a quaint l i t tletown. II •

FROM THE ARCHIVESby Al i ce Chadonich

Ther e was a good res ponsefor catal og or ders f r om ourlas t order blank whicha ppear ed in theNov emb er - De c embe r i s sue ofThe Doorknob Collector .Hope f u l l y t hos e member s whop l a c ed orders wi l l f i ndt he se copies beneficia l inhe l pin g t h e m re s earch andident i f y some of t he irha r dwa r e .

Aga in, a r emi nder , thator de r s f or catalog co piesare pr oc e s s ed onlyper i od i c a l l y and whenannoun ce d. This, i s to savewe ar and te ar on theoriginals in the a r ch i v e s .

CLASSIFIED AD SECTION

Doorknobwood en ,

and manySantelli

4t h Ave.,15010.

FOR SALE.collection. Glass,pewter, iron , brassmore. Anthony(til42) , 838Beaver Falls, PA

FOR SALE. Adde nda to"Vi c t or i an Decorative" byLen Blumin. Add i tionali n f or mation on over 100door knobs. $2 pr epa i d. ADCA ,P. O. Box 1 26 , Eola, I L60519-0126.

FOR SALE OR TRADE. Columbus(A-316) knobs $75 each orpossible t r ade forcomparable knob. Joe Mann(t170 ) , 5364 Speedway Drive, •Speedway IN 462244 Ph: ~317-244-4306 or SteveMenchhofer (#60), 5538 West25 th St., Speedway, IN46224 . Ph: 317-291-6043 .

Members are remi nded thatyour dues entitl e s yo u t o •advertise i t ems for sale, ,.t r ade or wa nt ed at nocharge.

FOR TRADE OR SALE . Cherub(A-204), Priest (A-205),Hummin gb i r d (A-I06),Japanese Lady (A-304),Plumed Helmet (A-302). Bes toffer for ei t her one or a llfive knobs . Charles Wardell( #9), Box 195, Tr i n i t y , NC27370 .

HANDWORKED DESIGN

shank f i ts the opening orthimble (all else beingequal) it is a match.

several possibilitiesexist in the collection ofwooden knobs, apart from ageneral take-what-cornesselection. Consider acollection of Bardsleyknobs in as many woods asmay be found or the eightstyles of 1892 (see page59 TAD) , speciJnen fromeach era, foreign knobs ,roses and keyholes, or anexample from each knownmanufacturer. Today I sscarcity of any one typeof yesterday I s woodenknobs would be directlyattributed to an originallow volume, vulnerabilityto damage, mis-handlingand careless disposal. Inany event, wooden door­knobs should always berepresented in cornprehen­sive knob collections iffor no other reason thantheir importance as evelv­ing examples of the origi­001 door knob••

Woode n door kn obs .. . .

turned on the sides of thebox shaped knobs .

Wooden knobs from Eur0­pean sources, fashionedfrom exotic hardwoods, areparticularly durable inbody and finish , have dis­tinctively turned shapesand are usually fittedwith fine metal collarsand scalloped roses. (seeillustration)

Wooden knobs may beappropriatily paired withroses of matching wood,metal trinnned wood, orplain or ornamental rosesand escutchion plates (seepage 37, 70, 85, 86, ABH) .Differences in shankdiameters for differenteras and c:orrpanies are sodiverse that a wrongpairing would be unlikely:Nashua knobs shank I S arelarge (I -1/2"). Ornamen­tal Wood Company shanksare small (1/2"), Bardsleyshanks are c.5/8" and, aslately as 1910, offeredwood, plain bronze orornamental roses. If the

PRHl1TI VE, HA KDl/ORKED WOODEN KNOB..rra LH l«: LATCH. ART PAHOLXE

Man ufa ctu rers of Knobs. Wood en 1922Allen . Chas.• Terryvi lle, Con n.

Corbi n, P. & F.. New Brit ain . Co nn.Es tes & Son s. E. B.. New Yo rk Ci ty.

Foster. Mer riam & Co.• Meriden. Conn .Na tion al Bra ss Co.. G ra nd R api ds. Mic h .

Piqua Handle & M fg. Co ., Piqu a . O hio. ( · namc led .)Strock & Co.• L. W.. Bet hlehem. Pa .

T ru Lite M fg. Co.. Bradford . Pa .

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WANTED. Knobs, number K-2 14wi th arabic design, f l a t orround . Al so, any Victor i anhardware ( knob s , p l a t e s ,locks, h i nges , etc., f orrestoration project. ) JohnDecker ( #141), 517 ClaytonSt., San Francisco, CA94117 .

WANTED. 7 brass knobs &plates sets B-218 . AlS~wanted antique window locks .Jene Bunten ( #173) , 2061Raymond , Si gna l Hi l l , CA90806 . Ph . 213-597 -5176 .