Featured Writing Slope manufactured by Toulmin & Gale. Ca. 1862.

Apart from granny's silver Straits Chinese belts, one of the most valuable things I've ever found, and wanted, is an antique writing slope. I'm a writer at heart (and by profession), and having one of these things has been an ambition of mine, almost since birth!

A few years ago, I finally managed to buy a writing slope in absolutely amazing condition!

Here's a photographic tour of the box and some information about it, and its manufacturer...

I purchased this from an antiques shop in Portobello Road, London, while I was there on holiday back around ca. 2010. Price paid was 130 pounds sterling. And for that money, I got this:




























This advertisement (dated 1864), gave me a rough date of manufacture. You can see my box on the bottom left

Anyone who's ever seen one of these, collects them, has one, uses one, will know how rare these things are, how expensive they are, and just how hard they are to find in working condition.

 

Wow, Shangas ... that is gorgeous!!! Your photos are pretty wonderful too!

 

Thanks QuirkyGirl.

In case anyone's wondering, Toulmin & Gale survived from 1735-1876. It went bankrupt in 1876. But before then, it manufactured dressing-cases, writing slopes, vesta-cases, travelling inkwells, games compendiums, tantaluses, and God knows what else!! They really turned their hand to everything they could think of.

T&G had a contract with the British Army to supply them with stuff like dressing cases and writing cases.

Everything you see in the photographs is original to the box, or original to the period of the box, as best as I could make it. It is without a doubt my most intrinsically valuable piece.

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Anyway, the story behind this piece...

London. Ca. 2011.

I was in London with my father. We were visiting my brother (who was living & working there at the time).

We went to Portobello Road Antiques Market and were browsing around. We entered a shop, and saw the box open on a table.

Dad goes:

"Do you want it??"
"Dad, we can't buy that!"
"Why not?"
"It's huge! It's heavy! It's delicate! We probably can't afford it! And how the hell are we gonna get it home to Australia!?"
"Never mind about that! I'll figure it out! Do you want it??"

Dad knows I've been after one of these almost since the day I was born. But they're PHENOMENALLY hard to find. In working condition, they go for absolutely INSANE amounts of money.

So I said: "Yes".

So dad sought out the shopkeeper and he gave us the lowdown on the box.

He'd purchased the box at auction about a year before. It had sat in his shop for something like 9 or 10 months. And despite repeated price-drops, nobody had shown any interest in it at all. He was getting SICK of having it in his shop (it does take up a fair bit of room) and wanted to get rid of it!

So we asked him: "How much?"
"A hundred and thirty quid".
"A hundred?"
"Nooooo! I've had this here for too damn long! I gotta get rid of it! That's my best price!"

We ummed and aahed and hmmmed about it for a bit...and then we decided: "Oh hell. We'll buy it! (We might never find another one!!)"

And it wasn't really a bad price, when you think about it.

So we bought it. We removed all the bits and pieces from it. Wrapped them up, packed up the box and brought it home to Australia. I was absolutely PETRIFIED that I wouldn't be able to get it home, or that it might break in some way!!

Fortunately, we managed to sneak it past customs! The customs-officer looks at my duffel-bag and he goes:

"What's in the bag?"
"A box".
"Oh alright! Go on mate, go on..."

*phew!*

I RAN out of the airport!

And it's been mine ever since

 

Wow. I'm jealous. I love lap desks and writing boxes. You got a bargain on this, for sure!

 

Hahaha!! Certainly true! Yes they are VERY hard to find and prohibitively expensive. I'm so lucky and proud to own this one!! Do you own one, Bev? I'd love to see it if you do.

 

Not like this. I have a couple of small lap desks that are not even complete. I picked them up for a few dollars at a yard sale.

 

Yeah that sounds about right. Sadly, complete ones like mine are extremely, extremely rare. I've only ever seen complete writing-slopes in museums, or VERY high-end antiques shops/auction-houses. I took my writing slope to an antiques fair once (I was displaying stuff with some friends). One of the other dealers walked by and offered me $2,000 for it!

I said it wasn't for sale.

I've seen ones selling for HUNDREDS of dollars and even those aren't complete. They have prices like $300, $400, $500...and they just aren't worth it. I bought mine for 130 pounds, which is about $200~ Australian. Not bad really.

 

Now see, I'd call that a campaign set, rather than a writing slope, I tend to use that term for wooden ones that have an angle.

You did very well: I could see that at four or five times the price - the military angle adds to it.

 

I should point out that this DOES have an angle, otherwise I wouldn't call it a writing *slope*, would I? It's identical to the one in the advertisement and has an angle of the same pitch.

Toulmin & Gale did manufacture for the British military, so this MIGHT at some time in its long history been used by a globetrotting diplomat or some manner of army/navy officer. And yes, a price of at least five times what I paid for it would be pretty realistic. Especially here in Australia where these things are so rare.

 

You're lucky to have had a father who supported you while developing the antiques habit!

 

They are dead out of fashion in Britain and have been for a few years, so prices are pretty weak, but that is a good complete example with the ivory accoutrements (you were lucky with your import) and you got it for a good price, especially in one of the most expensive places in the country to buy antiques. It may have helped that it is not the usual tourist purchase.

It is campaign equipment, the recessed handle is for easy shipping without damage, civilian writing slopes were different in construction and style, and usually rather earlier. The inclusion of a vesta case and some of the other fittings would not be needed in a piece in a domestic setting. Where mad dogs and Englishmen went out in the midday sun, you'd need to have everything you'd possibly need to write your dispatches.

On your silver belts, I see the lion and unicorn of the Imperial coat of arms incorporated in the design, which you'd not be surprised to see from something made in a British Empire country, and you'd see from nowhere else.

Despite its slope, 'writing slope' is not really the correct description.

They would have used the Exhibition date right up to the time the firm folded, so you can't be all that precise, but 1870 is a good approximation quite near enough for any purpose.

Sight of the business end of the key would show if it had a Bramah type lock, though probably not Bramah as this would be on the lockplate.

 

Wow! Today's Forum entries are like going to class!

 

Last thought, not always, or often military, in the late 19th C the globe was crawling with British administrators and traders as well as soldiers, and many would be going to remote parts where they'd need this sort of comprehensive kit. Despite the general use of stuff made to travel by all walks of life, or the more elevated ones anyway, the term 'campaign' furniture and goods has become a sort of default term.
The campaign may well have been one to sell railways to the Rajputs.

Or to bring the rule of law to the Cocos and Keeling Islands

 

What incredible replies...OK here goes...

You're quite right. I've traveled extensively around the world and sought out antiques in most places. And prices on some things vary quite significantly. What some people pay hundreds of dollars for back home, they pay nothing for in other places. Supply and demand, interest and understanding and whatnot.

The guy I bought the box from, like I said, purchased it at auction. He'd had it sitting in his shop for almost a year and nobody wanted it. So I suppose when he saw the chance for a quick sale, he jumped on it! And yes, Portobello Road is usually VERY expensive! I've been there three times and the prices...oy...

I suspected that something like this was a lot more than just an ordinary writing slope. That it was designed for SERIOUS travels abroad to remote places. Otherwise it wouldn't have so many bits and pieces on it. As you say, most writing-slopes were quite bland/simple.

I don't know WHAT is on the silver belt-buckle. I've shown it to a lot of people and the responses I get are different for every person. Certainly the Peranakan Chinese saw themselves as BRITISH SUBJECTS (they were called 'the King's Chinese' because of their alignment with the British rather than the Chinese from China) but I doubt that the buckle has any serious political leanings. Something like this would've been handmade for the family by-commission. It would NOT have been cheap, and my grandmother wasn't from a rich family. I suspect that it was mere coincidence. Gran was born in Singapore in 1914.

I can't be, no. But then, nobody can. There's precious little about T&G online. VERY little. It was only after a LOT of searching that I even found out what happened to the company. I came across old scanned copies of the London Gazette which gave me the rest of the story. But I use 1862 as the earliest possible date for the box. For all I know it might even be older than that. Or not. We'll never really know. But there's no way of saying that it couldn't be, which is why I set that as its 'birthday'.

I took the key to a local locksmith who cuts keys for antiques. He took one look at it and said that it was a Bramah lock. Or at least Bramah-style. But he also said that the key was NOT original to the lock. It looked like something that'd been made after, and that possibly there were two keys at one point. Then one was lost, and the 'spare key' was all that was left.

One day I do intend to get a second key cut, just in case.

I don't like to use the term 'campaign box'. Mostly because it's too specific. Writing slope or writing box is a much simpler term. It's something that more people can relate to. Would this have belonged to a soldier? Probably.

But it could also have belonged to a sailor. A diplomat travelling in the jungles of Malaya or deserts of India. The Mandate of Palestine. Australia. Canada. Any part of the British Empire. With antiques, all we have is conjecture, unfortunately.