Featured Gentleman's Writing Slope - 1882

I got back from a country-town antiques fair yesterday with a beautiful antique writing slope. I've done extensive research, and the stuff I've found has blown me away.

Here's what I bought:













The box itself is unremarkable. I need to find ink-bottles for it. And then I need to find a key for it. Should be fairly easy to do. But during cleaning all the gunk off it, I saw this:



It says:

"Tyalla
Toorak
July 14th,
1882"

What's this!? A date and an address??

OK, now I know how old the box is. Roughly. 1880-1882 approx.

I now know there's an address. Tyalla, Toorak.

Toorak is THE most expensive suburb in Melbourne, Australia. Where I live.

What is 'Tyalla'? I reasoned it had to be a house. Some grand estate. Turns out, I was right. This is Tyalla, as painted in 1882:



Heyington Place, Toorak is like the Melbourne Equivalent of Park Avenue in Manhattan. It has all these rich old Victorian mansions and everything. So I had to find out more!

I discovered that Tyalla was owned by William Gibson. A Scottish immigrant born in 1842 (Glasgow), and who migrated to Australia in the 1870s or thereabouts. He set himself up in business with Mr. Francis Foy, establishing what would eventually become a chain of department stores called Foy & Gibson (closed 1967).

Gibson himself died 5th of November, 1918. He was pre-deceased by his sister (1903), one son who died in WWI (1917), and another who died in England (1918). He was survived by his other sons and daughters (and there were a lot of them!!).

His house, Tyalla, was sold in 1922, for 21,000 pounds! His fortune and estate, when he died in 1918, was valued at over a million pounds!!

His company was taken over by his grandson, and the Gibsons continued to run Foy & Gibson until the business folded in the late 1960s.

This is so thrilling to find out...

...And all from a country antiques fair...!!

Was William Gibson the owner of this box? I consider it highly likely. As a prominent local businessman, I could imagine him needing a box like this to store all his papers during his travels around Australia, visiting the various outlets and stores. It's now my mission to try and restore this box to some semblance of originality.

 

How cool is that !
it's one of those life mysteries !

 

Yes, very cool!

Where was that written? On the writing surface? Blotting surface? (It's hard to tell from the pictures and I probably don't have the correct terminology.)

Do you think it's some indication of ownership or just that a previous owner had some interest in the mansion? Maybe a meeting, party or appointment to call?

That's Bastille Day, you know. Maybe they were celebrating with locally residing French people?

 

There is a name R. Hill
You should see if you can find that person associated with Tyalla.

 

It says "R. Hill. NSW" (New South Wales).

Unfortunately, it would be almost impossible to find out. A first initial, a VERY common surname and a state isn't much to go on...

Where was that written? On the writing surface? Blotting surface? (It's hard to tell from the pictures and I probably don't have the correct terminology.)

Do you think it's some indication of ownership or just that a previous owner had some interest in the mansion? Maybe a meeting, party or appointment to call?

It was written on the Aide Memoir (the two white panels). I think it is an indication of ownership. Something like this would've been expensive in 1882. It wouldn't have been just any old schmuck who owned one. And why would it be an appointment? Do people plan appointments years in advance? At any rate, it would have a time, if it did. Which it doesn't.

 

Whoa nelly. I was just trying to think of what the significance of a place and date might be, running through various possibilities.

But if it was an indication of ownership as well as where the person lived and when, wouldn't you expect to see a name there too? I'm just asking. I still think it's a cool find.

 

There is a surname "Balfour" (or what looks like it).

And then there's something that looks like: "From Papa"

There is something else written on it, but I can't make it out. It looks like initials. C.G. or something. G, I assume is for 'Gibson'.

 

Please don't take offense.
It is nice to think that this might actually have belonged to Mr. Gibson. However, it is unwise to assume so, without more to go on. If you plan to sell, it would be wrong to attribute the box to this person without more proof.

 

I don't intend to sell it! Dear God. FINDING one of these is hard enough!! But I'll continue to attribute it to Mr. Gibson until something or someone proves otherwise with significant evidence.

Until then, what I've uncovered is all I have to go on. I'm just digging up as much information as I can by going through old housing records, old newspaper archives, births, deaths and marriages, local historical society websites and so-forth. And I'll continue to say it's Gibson's until, like I said, someone can prove it otherwise.

 

The box doesn't NEED restoration beyond what I have to do to stop it from falling apart. What it NEEDS is PARTS. The key. The inkwells. The pens and nibs and papers. Those are the thing I'm trying to find.

And I'm still doing research on this thing. I need to find a few key dates to satisfy my own curiosity about something, first.

 

Done MORE DIGGING!!

I've found a NAME on the box. "Balfour".

Extensive research has proven this to be James Balfour. An Australian politician who lived from 1830-1913. He lived at Tyalla, Toorak, in 1882. His name appears on a list of subscribers to the Melbourne Telephone Exchange, dated August 19, 1882. It lists Tyalla as his address.

The date inside the writing-slope is July 14, 1882. Basically 1 month before.

Gibson's off the list. James Balfour's now my prime suspect as being owner of this box...

In case you're wondering who he is, this is his Wikipedia Page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Balfour_(Australian_politician)

Balfour lived at Tyalla from at least July 14, 1882, until at least 1885. I'm trying to find out exactly when he moved in and when he left the house. The house's next owner was presumably, Mr. Gibson.

 

Before...





During...





After...





Not bad, eh?

Next steps: Finding a bone folder, or an ivory ruler. And finding a key.

 

Picked up a small-sized bone-folder at my local art & craft joint. Yes, it's real bone.

Next step: Finding a key.

 

I can't wait to see it all "put right".

 

Hah, thanks

I'm trying to determine how old this box is. The date on it is 1882. But I doubt that's when the box was purchased. I know this style goes back at least to the 1830s and possibly further. If Mr. B. is the owner of this box, then he lived at Tyalla between 1865-1893. Not sure how that helps...

 

Well, do keep us updated, ok?

 

Nice how you are beautifying this lovely piece

 

I bought my 2nd late husband a Balfour ring.

 

All done! Got the key for it. And I also got a beautiful ivory page-turner for it, which will now replace the bone-folder.