Some pictures of the first stove I bought a few weeks ago. I guess its pre 1969, but when did the marking at the bottom chance from Stockholm to Uppl-Väsby? I need to replace the pump leather, which fell apart as I extracted it from the tube, and whilst I'm ar it, I'll do the rest of the seals aswel. A new silent burner cap will also need to be acquired. I've started to polish it, mainly to be able to read the markings, it comes with it's original trivet, which I'll clean and paint with a heat resistant paint.
As a very rough ball park estimate, I would say yours likely dates from the early-mid 1960's. I think from memory, the Stockholm to Uppl Vasby stamp change was about 1938, and this year was followed by a major world event that interrupted production and certainly UK import of such brass items! I think that following the formation of Primus Trading Company in 1963, when Optimus began their badge engineered Primus stove manufacture, they homogenised the base plates to a single Made in Sweden format, applicable to both brands. Some suggest that was as early as 1963 and others that it followed the Svea purchase in 1969. Another feature that might date it better is the recessed filler designed to prevent overfilling. I think this was introduced on the No.5 in the 1960's and would therefore indicate that your stove was made after the recess filler and before the Made In Sweden base stamping (1969 at latest). Don't quote me on these dates - they are offered in good faith, but may not be absolutes. Someone more knowledgeable will no doubt be along soon .... there are plenty of them to choose from! Regards Dean
Thanks Dean. No worries about absolute accuracy, with out a date stamp of sorts we'll never be able to be precise. I've read a lot on this site the last few weeks, that's where I got the 1969(ish) date for the change of the stamp from. Its all very fascinating.
@Havoc1968NL Take a look at the recent thread titled Dating my optimus no5 where Kerophile and abbahco1 make similar conclusions on, what might be a similar stove. When I mentioned Someone more knowledgeable before, these two would have been amongst those in my mind! Point of looking at the thread is to try to see if your stove has identical features to the one pictured there. Dean
@Havoc1968NL If year of manufacture is important to you, you will have to buy Primus (pre 1963) in future, or make sure you get the original packaging and bill of sale with future purchases! Even then, there is nothing to say that parts, other than those date stamped, will not have been changed at some stage. Finding unused with packaging and BoS would be a very tall order, but not necessarily impossible, even 60+ years on. Where in Wales are you? There is a small group coming to Snowdonia for a camping weekend in a few weeks time. Dean
Nah, the date is not that important, I just like to have a rough idea. I'm also not massively into "as new" condition, I like the fact that these stoves have had a productive life, and show it. What I particularly like about all this old stuff (wether stoves, lamps, engines, boats or what not) is that it was build to last, and be fixed (repeatedly)with a hammer. Not simply thrown away and replaced with a new one when it got a scratch. I'm in South Wales. Not sure if I'm in deep enough for a weekend of stove talk yet though
Three weeks can be a long time in stove collecting ... Check out the stove pox threads, I reckon 21 days is way after the end of the incubation period.
