Object Description
A rare 1930’s clockwork model river launch/cabin cruiser ‘Margaret Rose’, so named following the birth of Princess Margaret in 1930. Made by Bassett-Lowke, with streamlined white and green painted wooden hull, light oak decking with a dark wood cabin fitted with 3 windows each side, removable roof for access to the functioning clockwork motor, brass makers plaque to the aft deck, pennant to the bow and jack to the stern. Comes complete with original key & oil can and is presented on newly made polished aluminium display stand.
The Bassett-Lowke company started as a model engineering supplies company in 1899 in Northampton, England. It was founded by Wenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke and H.F.R Franklin, with the help of WJ’s father. The company’s initial premises were a site owned by the Bassett-Lowke family’s boiler making business (of which Franklin had been the company accountant), and it went on to become one of the country’s most successful makers of medium and large-gauge model railways, model ships, and exhibition models.