Apr 28, 2013

Harry Pulfer

Prineess or Princess, that´s the question !


In the nineteen-sixties Harry Pulfer from California was the number one expert  concerning pre war car emblems. He is dead since long. Harry even wrote a self published book: The Auto name plate. I own one. In his book he describes how he ordered reproduction emblems in Hong Kong. He sent one emblem when he had one or a simpel rub paper when he had no emblem. What he got back, you can see it here: PRINCESS was a cyclecar from Detroit. But the chinese worker read: PRINEESS. What a nice error.
What do you think, is it a collectable item ?

P.S. Harry Pulfer´s reproduction always had a flat backside and never a maker´s make


and here is the original !  (thank you Mike for the photo)



One more repro made by Harry Pulfer :
The original emblem is vaulted;  the repro is flat.

on top:     original                      down:   repro

You see more Harry Pulfer reproductions when looking at " Harry Pulfer " and older posts.


the young Harry Pulfer



In 1968 Harry Pulfer sold his self made booklet
 " The Auto Name Plate Collector " . A Manual For Old Car Restorers & Collectors "
 for $ 1 and later for $ 2:


This book is a  " Must Have " for every collector ! From time to time you find it in ebay.com


In this book you find an article from the guest author Doc. Mundhenk about
  "TWELVE OUTSTANDING NAMEPLATES "
to answer the question which are the twelve prettiest and most distinctive nameplates.
And here is his selection:




The pictures of the emblems are not to scale


More than 50 years later I tried to recreate his choice:


Side note:
 Emblem No. 5 showing a pagoda is from DAIHATSU indeed. But DAIHATSU is a Japanese automobil factory, not from China. As a reader of this blog told me, the emblem shows the Osaka Pagoda !


very rare 1959 DAIHATSU, type  emblem


Size5.3 cm x 6.3 cm
Year1959
Estimate





For more  emblems  see older posts or top right of this page ( list of car makers ).
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11 comments:

  1. Harry Pulfer and partner William C. "Bill" Williams "recreations from etchings" (reproductions), be they emblems, badges or motometer dialplate/nameplates are always "dodgey" in terms of quality and collectibility. Personally I avoid them when detected and do not knowingly buy or encourage anyone else to knowingly buy or sell them. Certain combinations of elements were never gotten right, while most others were purely for profit or flawed interpretations of the real thing.

    Always buy original, they can be restored and have good value, but a reproduction is always a reproduction and never quite up to snuff!

    No disrespect to either of these late gentlemen. However, some of their reproductions are hurting multiple automobilia markets, including Motometers.

    Great original listing inclusion!!!

    F. Clax - Mr. Motometer
    July 29, 2013

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes you are right you always should buy the original. But what to do if there is no original ? I buy emblems made by Harry Pulfer as a placeholder for the original and if it happens later to find an original I can compare and replace the emblem.
      Also his booklet is a goldmine concerning informations about collecting emblems and automobilia.
      To sum up: better buy a bad original than a perfect repro !

      Delete
  2. I am one of the grandsons of Harry Pulfer and I have a nice collection of his reproduction emblems from cars with the Knight sleeve valve engine. He truly loved cars and the hobby of collecting. Before the internet finding an original Minerva emblem would have been even more difficult than it is today. He made it possible to complete many restorations. I wish I had one of his reproduction emblems for my reproduction 1937 Cord.

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  3. Thank you for your instructive comment. I wish I had ever meet Harry.
    Please send me pictures of all repro emblems you have, especially from the emblems for cars with the Knight engine.
    I appreciate your answer.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you for your instructive comment. I wish I had ever meet Harry.
    Please send me pictures of all repro emblems you have, especially from the emblems for cars with the Knight engine.
    I appreciate your answer.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think many or even most of Harry's reproductions are about two thirds original size. I have several and they are all smaller than my originals. Does anyone know if Harry's reproductions were usually smaller than the originals?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Harry Pulfer always tried to reproduce the original size.
    But sometimes he copied the emblem from an advertisement so the size was by chance.

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  7. Does anyone have a list of the badges Harry Pulfer reproduced?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know there is a list, but I´m still hunting for it.

      Delete
    2. I know there is a list, but I´m still hunting for it.

      Delete
  8. The castle on the Daihatsu badge is Osaka castle. Daihatsu is based in Osaka.

    ReplyDelete