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Good heavens do you? I always suspected they were French as I used to see similar sets in France but without Nipper and Gramophone.

jamiegramo wrote: Mon Feb 24, 2025 8:53 am Good heavens do you? I always suspected they were French as I used to see similar sets in France but without Nipper and Gramophone.

They are in fact MUSICAL BOXES with a single movement! The gramophone has a small key-wound wind-up musical movement at the bottom of the case. I had to change mine, sadly, as it wasn't working (it's kept with it for posterity) but luckily I found a shop in France online selling replacement musical movements. I added something modern but suitably frothy and French to it:

"Comptine d'un autre été" from Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain

Now I have Steve's quotes of "Interesting and Inexpensive" and "Incredibly rare" to pacify the wife, I can confess to having bought it !!

Gramtastic wrote: Mon Feb 24, 2025 9:31 am Now I have Steve's quotes of "Interesting and Inexpensive" and "Incredibly rare" to pacify the wife, I can confess to having bought it !!

Well done, you! Congratulations on a great and rare find.

Hi , I have now had time to research the inkwell and give it a light restoration. In the Nipper Souvenirs red book, it is mentioned (page 41) as being only know from a 1900 dated leaflet which contains a picture (page 44) and description ! I can confirm it is German made as the back bracket is stamped "Musterschutz" the German equivalent of trademark.
The book says "Whether it was intended that they be made available for re-sale is not known. Probably they were used by dealers for presentation to their leading customers"
This probably explains why so few have survived.
It still amazes me how things like this can still turn up on Ebay !

I would have definitely bought it had I seen it. You bagged an absolute steal there and it is very rare too. I'm amazed you had no competition. I put it down to the fact that a lot of collectors either have too much stuff already (like someone I know very well) or are getting somewhat jaded with looking at all the absolute rubbish on Ebay, week in, week out (like someone I know very well) so miss things like this or perhaps don't have the reference books and won't buy anything that they cannot point to in a book for "security" or back-up.

There are also collectors who (like me) will now prioritise buying machines when they become available from deceased estates over and above all the related ephemera that was more freely available and sought after 30 years ago. It's surprising how little ephemera turns up for sale, either online or in real world shops / auctions these days but there's surely a limit to the amount of needle cutters and Nipper souvenirs you can own........or is there?

Hi, well it was on a buy it now and had only been listed for a few minutes so I just got lucky !

Gramtastic wrote: Fri Mar 14, 2025 6:43 am Hi, well it was on a buy it now and had only been listed for a few minutes so I just got lucky !

In which case you were exceedingly lucky! Congratulations again.

Can anyone please scan the page of the red Nipper book by Ruth Edge and Leonard Petts that references the inkwell's age or year of sale? The above scans don't state the year and I can't currently put a hand on my own copy. Thx.

I need this evidence to support part of my next VAT claim against HMRC who have ignored the obvious fact that it's an antique item. Please refer to separate thread about these issues.

Thank you

Steve

Hi Steve, hope this helps !