Westmoore WW1 J1 Propeller, Hall Scott A7-A

[smthompson77]

Disclaimer, I know nothing about wooden propellers. I have an 8' wooden propeller I'm told was found in a wheat field in Kansas in 1950. In good shape except one side of one of the copper tips has some deterioration. Otherwise the "good side" has no issues. Brass plates are intact, as are the stampings that have a Westmoore logo and No.1397. No idea what it's worth but would like to get about $1300 for it. I'm located in Fullerton, CA 92833.
Steve
smthompson77@sbcglobal.net

[D.Hicklin]

And now the lesson starts!



Hello from Dennis in Seattle, welcome to this site and wecome to the forum.

This is where it will be interesting to see what Lamar and Dave and Bob Gardener have to say about this particular prop.

On this forum, this is the first time I have seen a set of Brass I. D. plates on a hub attached with slotted head screws. I would have thought that would be a practice that would be less than desired by craftsmen that made the prop originally. I could be wrong here, but I get the feeling that all of that centrifugal force might be a factor when it comes to the screws holding tight to keep the I. D. plates attached.

The picture I enclosed, does show a Hall scott engine and the prop hub does show brass plates, I had never noticed that before.

I am also curious how you happened to settle on that price as an asking price?

I hope the Professionals will weigh in on this as its always interesting to learn from those that really know the history and finer details of such vintage " airscrews ".

Thanks for the post.

Sincerely,
Dennis Hicklin
Seattle Washington

[smthompson77]

WW1 prop

Thanks for the reply Dennis. Though I know nothing about WW1 props, I do try to find out as much as I can about the prop I have. The price was an estimate based on similar or exact propellers to mine and the price they sold for. Not sure if I'm high or low but decided to start there. I'm thinking about putting it up on eBay to see what happens there (and will use the packaging techniques shown on this site).

Cheers!

[Dave]

It's a nice authentic prop. Westmoore made a lot of propellers around WW1 but sadly very little is known about the company. Here's an identical one (posted before I knew how to spell "Westmoore".)

I think the centrifugal force near the hub is low enough that the screws weren't an issue holding the plate. Some very early ones, like this Requa Gibson used brass plates for identification as well.

[smthompson77]

The thing I like about this propeller is that there has been no attempt to "restore" or refinish it. It's old...and it looks old. It has a few scratches and like I said, the copper is deteriorated on one side of one end but there's no dings or dents. The bad copper area is probably what sat in the dirt for a couple decades in that field they found it in.

So, am I close on the asking price? Just want to be fair.

Thanks!

[Dave]

It's hard to suggest an asking price without seeing the real details, e.g. condition of BOTH decals and more detail on the copper sheathing, as well as a close up of the hub itself, looking for "witness" marks that would indicate if it had been used or not. For eBay I think you're in the right ballpark, and of course all it takes is for 2 people to start trying to out bid each other . . .