Found a Gipsy Major Propeller

[bruswen]

Hi I am sorry to bug anyone you all are likely sick of people asking about these propellers but here it goes anyway. We found this and wondered about it and wanted to know about whether or not to refinish it?? I know it doesn't look very nice right now. I took some pictures and the info I could read off the side.

It is 8 bolts and it is 80" long it says on the side
DIA 80
FIT 527
GISPY MAJOR
It is yellow in color from the old paint I can see, and the ends seem to have a thicker yellow paint on them.
There of course is metal along the edges I tried to take a picture of the tips, but the metal is not perfect it has been damaged a bit.

That is all I could find on it for identification. Love to know what plane it is from & what is the right way to treat these all the other pictures look sanded down & re-finished but then I looked at your site here and someone said leave them alone?? I have no idea what these are worth if anything I don't think I want to sell it but I don't want to damage it either. I am totally confused hopefully the pictures help I am sorry they are so bad it's hard to get a good photo.

[Dave]

The general advice is that if it is original condition it should be left that way. If someone has tried to "restore" it already then it really doesn't matter what you do to it. Its value will never improve by refinishing it if it is in original condition, almost no matter how bad it may look to its owner.

While it's obviously intended for a Gypsy Major engine, I'm not sure why it isn't stamped with the typical British nomenclature shown on this page. There are over 1000 different propeller designs shown there and in a quick glance through them I can't find any "527" listed.

[bruswen]

Thank You so much for your reply!

I too looked through that list hoping to find something but I couldn't either. It is so bizarre, and I couldn't find anything else online about it either. Thank you so much for your reply. I will leave it alone & not touch it's finish. I just thought everyone else's looked so much nicer than mine. I know sometime you should not touch antiques but I wasn't sure about the propellers. I cannot find any other markings on the thing anywhere even what is there is harder to read. The lettering doesn't seem as deeply carved in as others I have seen. Well I will keep searching & asking for help & maybe I can date the thing so I can tell people that ask. Thank You Wendy Brus