I have stopped collecting Primus type stoves but when I saw the tank lid, pump knob and tank lid of this stove I knew that it was from the 1910s and could not resist it especially as the model number was not stated The model is in the C1912 Primus catalogue. Initially I thought that it was an outfit with a missing fuel tank however if you look at the box there is no room for a fuel tank. The box has bracket to store the burner and missing windscreen and another bracket to retain the glass spirit bottle. There is also a rectangular bracket on the lid and the front of the box. I think the lid bracket was to store prickers in. The front bracket stops at the rim of the box bottom. I think that it was probably for the spanner but the head would have to be short so that the lid would shut. This may have been the normal tin for a 210 at that time. The stove shares the tank lid with the 230 of that time 1911 Primus 230. However this lid has been modified from the earlier lid which had a hole in it to allow air to escape when the airscrew was loosened. The airscrew on this one has a groove up the side to allow air to escape from the tank. The stove shares the feet, pump lid and pump knob with the Primus 96 of that time 1915 Primus 96 Pocket although the feet were obviously bigger on this stove. The marking on the burner is correct for the age of the stove so may be original. The leg bends are the Primus shape and they may be original. The tin would have been originally plated but someone has painted it and I have left it rather than expose rust. The catch is missing from the front of the box. Regards Bryan
Bryan, am amazed how clean and polished the stoves presented. Makes you feel like you do not want to fire them up Ron
Hi Gordon The earliest reference to the 210 appears to be in the C1912 catalogue that Ross has just posted. The illustration is not sharp but the legs do not appear to have a kink at the bottom so they may have been collared legs in the illustration. However the 96 had lost its collared legs by then so the illustration could be wrong. Sometimes the illustrator had never seen the stove and simply drew an illustration of another stove instead of the actual stove. In an Association of Cycle Campers handbook from the 1900s or 1910s there are early illustrations of a 96 showing it as having a conventional burner. There is no other evidence that Primus ever fitted a conventional burner to a 96. I assume that the illustrator simply assumed that the 96 was a 1 pint stove reduced to 1/2 pint. Regards Bryan
Hi Bryan a real beauty i must say the quality of these older stoves from the 1910's is realy good the filler cap air screw and pump knob are beautifully knurled better than those from the 30's till the 60's and also very nicely marked. And having a glass spirit bottle is a good idea unless broken would last as long as the stove as no danger of ever rusting and the owner could visualy see how much spirit is left in the bottle and must have been cheaper to manufacture. many thanks Bryan for shareing a wonderfull 96 year old beauty
Hi The stove will be lit once before I sell it however I feel that stoves of this age are historically important irrespective of how much they are worth financially. If I had been keeping the stove I would not have used it in case I damaged it which would mean that future collectors would not get the opportunity to see this old stove. When I was collecting I had my collection which was not used. I also had my "working" stoves which were but were never counted as part of my collection. They were the stoves with some defects such as dinted tanks. These did not affect the use of the stove but meant that I did not get upset if I added to the dints and were not a loss to the collecting world if they expired. My collectable stoves which I got unused were never used as they were historically important as references. The fittings on those stoves were original unless something really bizarre had happened so to me the reference value far exceeded any value in using them. I still have my working stoves some of which have numerous dints on them. Most of my working half pint and 1 pint stoves have dints in the underside of the tanks although I was never aware of causing the dints. My stove tanks were carried in the side pockets of my rucksacks and I assume that I must have brushed against trees or walls to cause the dints but not been aware of doing it. I have reservations about the glass spirit bottle. I have only seen another two. One was in my collection and one was in Ross's collection. Both had Primus on the side of the bottle and were a smaller diameter. My other bottle is with the 1911 230 outfit whose link is given above. The proportions of the 210 bottle are different to the 230 bottle. I will make a cork for it before I sell it However the bottle with this 210 fits its storage area so may be original even though it is is not branded Regards Bryan
Hi All I have now made a cork for the bottle and have listed the stove on ebay. The cork has a bigger top because these small diameter corks are difficult to grip when trying to remove them from the bottle I had a job finding a cork to alter. Bottles now seem to have plastic stoppers. Naturally I have a bag of wine bottle corks but could not find them and had to use a cork that had been used as a pin cushion. Regards Bryan
