About a month ago, I found this on craigslist.
The seller was a very nice older gentleman, a collector.
When he delivered it to my driveway, I was in awe to see this in person. It's truly an amazing piece of speedbag history.
As the seller related to me, the story goes as follows:
This came from the gymnasium of Santa Clara High School, which is one of the oldest schools in California. (Founded in 1872)
The seller had a good friend of his that worked at the school. While at the school visiting with his friend, 10 years ago, the seller spotted the Narragansett mounted on the wall - and thought what a good coffee table the platform would make.
The seller told his friend, that if the day should come that the school gets rid of the platform, that he (seller) would like first dibs on it. He said again he was just thinking what a good coffee table it would make.
10 years later (just recently), and the school completely remodels their gymnasium - and the Narragansett was to be taken down and destined for the landfill !!!
Fortunately, the seller's friend remembered their conversation of a decade prior, and gave him a call. Letting him know, that he has the platform sitting in a utility closet ready for him to pick up.
The seller came and picked it up from being thrown away. He then started doing some research (due to the Narragansett Machine Co sticker on the platform) and found himself here on the speedbag forum, and realized that it would be a travesty to make a coffee table out of this.
He got many inquiries on this platform, but one of the things he said that made him give me the sell was that he could tell that I appreciate the history of the piece.
It's in beautiful condition. The gearing works flawlessly. The Japaning finish has few areas of wear, only where you would expect them (the wheel & behind the wheel, mainly).
It has all of the original hardware. It appears that this was installed once, and was only taken down decades later. This is also what the seller related to me, that it was in it's original installation as far as he could tell.
Enough about the history. Here's the pics...
The seller was a very nice older gentleman, a collector.
When he delivered it to my driveway, I was in awe to see this in person. It's truly an amazing piece of speedbag history.
As the seller related to me, the story goes as follows:
This came from the gymnasium of Santa Clara High School, which is one of the oldest schools in California. (Founded in 1872)
The seller had a good friend of his that worked at the school. While at the school visiting with his friend, 10 years ago, the seller spotted the Narragansett mounted on the wall - and thought what a good coffee table the platform would make.
The seller told his friend, that if the day should come that the school gets rid of the platform, that he (seller) would like first dibs on it. He said again he was just thinking what a good coffee table it would make.
10 years later (just recently), and the school completely remodels their gymnasium - and the Narragansett was to be taken down and destined for the landfill !!!
Fortunately, the seller's friend remembered their conversation of a decade prior, and gave him a call. Letting him know, that he has the platform sitting in a utility closet ready for him to pick up.
The seller came and picked it up from being thrown away. He then started doing some research (due to the Narragansett Machine Co sticker on the platform) and found himself here on the speedbag forum, and realized that it would be a travesty to make a coffee table out of this.
He got many inquiries on this platform, but one of the things he said that made him give me the sell was that he could tell that I appreciate the history of the piece.
It's in beautiful condition. The gearing works flawlessly. The Japaning finish has few areas of wear, only where you would expect them (the wheel & behind the wheel, mainly).
It has all of the original hardware. It appears that this was installed once, and was only taken down decades later. This is also what the seller related to me, that it was in it's original installation as far as he could tell.
Enough about the history. Here's the pics...
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