UNMARKED BARBER CHUCK BRACE

This completely unmarked brace is in super condition.  The appearance of the lignum vitae cup handle suggests a brace from the 1870s (it is thin, cupped underneath, and nicely turned and decorated).  The nickel finish is almost complete.  In a 10" sweep, the brace has an original Barber's chuck with the proper jaws.  A quality brace, it looks pirated without marks, to infringe on the Barber patent.

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UNMARKED (IVES?) RATCHET (PFLEGAR?) BRACE

This brace has no discernable mark on it, but because of its dinged and worn condition, and extant mark would be difficult to find.  The uncommon ratchet consists of a rotating vertical cam that is knife edged in two opposite sides in two positions, and allows the pawl to rotate against the bevel.  This is most likely the invention of F.P. Pflegar who patented a similar mechanism on March 21, 1876 (#175151, Pearson "B").  Pflegar's original design had the knife edges on a vertical plate that rotated around a pin in one end, not a cam pinned in the middle. 

Pflegar was located in New Haven, Connecticut--the home of the William Ives Co--and similar braces are reported that are marked with the Ives name.  It is not unlikely that this brace was also produced by Ives.

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GAVIN & CROMER

George Gavin and Lawrence Cromer, from Eureka, Nevada, were granted a brace patent on July 19, 1887 (#366826, Pearson "A")  for an unusual chuck that accepts a special bit with a notched tang.  Not very successful, this brace is not often seen.

The flat spring seems to require a tool to pry it up to release the bit.  Probably the most outstanding feature of this brace is that it likely the only brace patented in Nevada.

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