Primus No.96 of 1948 with cycle clip in Collars Ltd. box

An ‘AM’ date letter Primus that marks it out in my collection because of the cycle clip it’s been equipped with and the ‘Collars Ltd.’ box that I suspect it’s been housed in from new.

First, the cycle clip, a Terry’s pattern but not branded as such, just ‘Made in England’.








Contemplating where the clip should be orientated on the circumference of the stove I’d thought here …




… to place filler cap and pump uppermost when clipped to the bicycle crossbar - no prospect of fuel leakage if the air screw works loose and where the pump rod wouldn’t extend with road shocks. Wrong, there’s insufficient clearance to fully clip it on and if it did the clamp bracket gets in the way of comfortable access to the pump knob.

This is the best orientation, which corresponds with the Terry’s advertisement illustration.




The base portion of the clip obscures the Primus date stamp …




… but there it is, ‘AM’.




The vapouriser orifice exceeded the correct specification of 0.23mm by a wide margin, so I installed a hypodermic needle insert. @pete sav introduced me to clockmaker’s broaches, and a set of narrow-guage ones equipped me with a useful reamer to bore out the orifice to accomodate the hypodermic needle insert to silver solder in place.




Consequently, the Primus was working as I would wish.



So, more on the ‘Collars Ltd.’ box.

Initially based in Wembley, London, the company exploited the late 19th century invention of shirts with detachable collars, ensuring that a point of high wear could be invigorated by laundry services and replaced if too worn without replacement of the whole shirt.

Originating in the early 1930’s, Collars Ltd.’s business was to sell detachable shirt collars in a variety of styles and, for a fee, ‘dress’ them (launder and starch), collecting the soiled collars weekly and replacing them with fresh examples. When a collar was too worn it would be replaced with s new one as part of the service.






Delivery/collection was in a stylish range of ‘streamlined’ vans, seen here being polished by its uniformed delivery driver.




Under construction at the Glasgow premises of Holland Coachcraft, based on Albion, Guy and Commer commercial vehicles.



More to follow …

John

 

More on the Collars Ltd. story.




Collars Ltd. was based in Wembley, Middlesex, UK. The company specialised in cleaning detachable shirt collars and it claimed to be the largest collar launderers in the world. An article of 1936 hailed Collars’ fleet of Holland Coachcraft vehicles:-

The vans.










A box dating from 1937, older than my example with the 1948 stove.

















John

 

Terrific post John ! The bicycle frame clip must be a holy grail for completists . What a marvellous accessory . The research on the collars and the buses was really fascinating . I enjoyed this tremendously . Thanks . Cheers Alastair

 

How the world has changed! You can nearly add a zero to the lower figure these days..... mind you, these vans would only be doing short local runs with a lot of loading and unloading time.

 

Most interesting history indeed.

 

@presscall.
Good evening John very interesting thread not just the stove and all the information on the terry clip, but all the history in which the box the stove came in, very god detective work on your part

 

Very interesting, John, and a great story!

Do the instructions for operating the stove, on the inside lid of the box, have the printer’s date of 3/38? (“10,000 3. 38 - 670”)

Cheers

Tony

@presscall

 

Isn't the internet a wonderful thing? Reading through this and seeing the name and address card for the Collars customer, I just had to look at what sort of person Mr de Poncy might have been. With me coming from south east London I sensed some dichotomy between living in Plumstead and wearing laundered removable collars. The only person I ever knew who wore them (to my knowledge) was my maternal grandfather and he was far from a lawyer or other professional.
Well Mr de Poncy lived in a large 5 bedroom semi in Plumstead, with large rooms and high ceilings and even something of a watercourse running through the rear garden. Quite a high status house with attic dormers and London stock bricks with red brick features, this and its neighbour were possibly the largest in the street. Maybe laundered collars suited him, after all.
Searching today for the surname does not give many hits, although there is a reference to one, an artist from Dulwich Village whose artwork "Horses at a Stream" was catalogued for the London International Exhibition of 1872.
It'll take you far less time to read this than it took me to research it! Now I have missed "Strictly"! What a shame.

 

I must admit that at first I wondered about the connection between the Collars brand and the clip.
It was only after a while ( as I was reading) that I realized that the box was simply used to store this beautiful 96 with the clip attached.
Very interesting whole post.

 

Interesting reflections. Seperate collars, like all other items of clothing, went through various fashion changes. H.G. Wells' Edwardian character Kipps wore the high (2-3"!) collars fashionable amongst those of his station at the time, at the expense of comfort.

I couldn't remember the quote, however a quick online search provides it. The collars "made [the] neck quite sore and left a red mark under [the] ears."

 

That’s right Tony.

Street View of the property.



Barristers and clerics still have recourse to separate collars and ‘tunic’ (collarless) shirts.

Website for specialist supplier.

 

Evening, @presscall ,

John, what a wonderful post! I love the stove, the bicycle clip, and the entire write up on the removable shirt collars! Excellent job, brilliantly done on all counts! I amazes me that serendipity pops in when you least expect it, and the results are, quite simply fantastic! Many thanks for your efforts, and thanks for sharing all this here! Take care, Merry Christmas, and God Bless!

Every Good Wish,
Mark

 

My thought too with this one Mark. It’s been a rare event when a stove in my collection has come with a known history. Elsie and Reg’s ‘honeymoon’ Svea 106 Sport was an exception, also in a cardboard box curiously enough, albeit of Svea manufacture.




In the case of the Primus, though I have no word-of-mouth history as with the Svea, the social context of the Collars service box marked ‘Primus’ and the bicycle clip is sufficiently engaging of itself.

Season’s greeting to you too Mark.

John

 

An interesting dichotomy too, seeing as one requiring laundered separate collars could well afford the 'L' version of the 96 with tin.

Was it therefore purchased by somebody wealthy specifically with cycle-mounting in mind, hence no tin and the collar box for storage when not in use? Would a separate collar wearer be likely to engage in cycle touring or picnics, especially preparing their own refreshments rather than use cafes and hotels?

Or was it property of a servant who obtained the box from their employer as a handy means to store the stove?

Or was it just reuse of a random box by somebody unrelated to Mr. de Poncy....

Fun to speculate.

 

@presscall
Congrats, John, you are great! For me ( and probably many others ) it's most intristing thread - and item - this year. Shows common use of stove - not as a part of one's collection...
Stanisław

 

Pay attention Chris! You appear to have conflated the story of 2 different Collar's boxes.
In regard to Mr de Poncy's box John wrote:

To me, John's Collar's box looks to be the older design but I wouldn't want to argue with John, because I know that he researches things well! Also, the "other" box is printed with a bit of a warning "This box only to be used for sending collars to and from laundry".
I reckon they may have got fed up with the loss of boxes to Primus 96 owners who would rather have freshly laundered shirt collars than tins to keep their picnic stoves in! Now if John's box had that warning, I would have no hesitation in turning him in to the Collar's box police, who, after due investigation, would doubtless seize the offending box together with its contents!

 

@Dean Whoops thank you for pointing that out... I read the thread last night and lost the plot overnight!

I stand by the idea it would be unlikely that the unknown original owner would pilfer the box for stove storage (unless a mild kleptomaniac ) More likely one of the serving classes!

 

Excellent John.

 

@Dean
I based my view that the ‘stove’ box was in circulation after the ‘De Poncy’ box because the latter has a more intricate construction, a deeper lustrous patina to the cardboard and is profusely printed with the collar type illustrations and Helpful Suggestions. The ‘stove’ box on the other hand embodies the characteristic we’ve seen in the chronology of other products - simpler construction and simplified graphics. Additionally, the other outlets in England and Scotland named on the stove box lid suggests a later expansion of the original Wembley-based business.

I place the 1937 date for the De Poncy box on the basis of two identical date stamp impressions on the order ticket included. True, they date the ticket and not the box, but approximate to it I’d say.



John

 

@presscall
So by the time they simplified and cheapened the box, they weren't too bothered about losing some to people storing their old stoves etc. in them, hence the removal of the warning about inappropriate use.
Oddly enough, I have just been using a second user cardboard box to pack an ebay sale. It wasn't a vintage box at all, but my fingertips delighted at the quality and durability of the cardboard - very fine corrugations sandwiched in thick and durable outer layers - a far cry from the soft "crisp box" corrugated insert I have added. I am sure Evri will treat it with the respect it deserves; which is why it has squishy card inside a case hardened outer!