Highly polished and very heavy. Flash photography tends to show imperfections that really aren't there. The brass blade is solid and in excellent condition with no nicks, breaks or repairs. It has been polished and coated with a specialized lacquer to keep the blade from tarnishing. The front badge has multiple layers of transparent green ink with clear lacquer between the layers.
The cord is an 18 gauge rayon twisted pair with bakelite plug. The rayon material is supposed to simulate silk twisted pair from the 1920's used on more expensive appliances.
All non-electrical current conducting brass, copper and bare metal hardware has been polished and coated with a specialized lacquer. Never tarnishes and never needs polishing. The brass label underneath the switch has been restored by filling in the black background areas and polishing the bare brass areas, then clear coating with lacquer to protect the finish.
Fan runs very smooth and moves a lot of air. The oil wicks have been cleaned of all the old oil which looked like grease instead of oil. The cups have been filled with new oil and tend to last for a few years before refilling.
The stator and rotor can be seen from the rear of the unit and show that the windings have been reinsultated. The rotor has been polished, but no clear coat. The inside of the stator has been meticulously cleaned and polished. The new head wires have been nicely soldered and insulated.
Other photographs in this gallery reveal that one of the pins that hold down the label is missing. It has been found and attached at this point. Two photographs have been merged to show the full label which has been filled in with black paint, polished and clear coated. The pins that hold it down have also been polished and clear coated.
Original condition back left view. Body is made of aluminum and was originally copper plated at the factory in order to get the paint to adhere better.
Original condition side view.
The coil and switch assembly has been cleaned and polished. No clear coating on the electrical current conducting parts. The coil has been reinsulated and has no issue. The inside of the bell housing is very clean.
Original condition coil and switch. Not in too bad of shape, but still required quite a bit of time to restore to factory condition.
Bottom side view of the coil and switch assembly. No breaks or chips off the slide switch as is common with many old fans. Possibly made out of bakelite or some other formaldehyde resin.
Top side view of the coil and switch assembly.
A little tricky to replace the felt bottom since it needed to be stretched tight as the retaining ring was installed.
The inside of the bottom plate has a cardboard insulator which has been lacquered to protect it from decay. The felt retaining ring looks short, but since it is held down with metal clips it doesn't matter. They were mildly bent to slip the ring back on as to not damage them.
Original condition bottom plate. The felt bottom had to be scraped off the rusty bottom plate.
Hunter 16" Brass Blade Electric Fan, Type 16, Serial # V19893, Circa 1935
A collection of images from a finished restoration of a very fine antique electric fan. This unit was originally black, but was painted "Hunter Green" and the finish is quite smooth. A three speed oscillator that runs fast on all three speeds. Relatively quiet and a pleasure to watch. The brass blade is probably not original to the fan, but have seen others of this type with the same exact brass blade.
The flash from the camera makes the brass blade look less polished than it really is. You can zoom in on the images if you mouse over them. During autoplay zoom is disabled. Shrinking the browser window will shrink its contents possibly making it easier to view the gallery.
Valued in the range of $325 - $425.