Thoughts on Brass cases?

Personally I like them. Sure don't have to worry about brassing! I don't know how they would stand the test of time if carried daily for many years. But I would bet they would do as well as a GF case. I have 2 maybe 3.
This one houses a Hampden.

Hallmark

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Dial

This case probably had a little gold on it to begin with ....but not very much! These were thinly plated and no relation to gold filled. That being said, Brass is brassy and it looks pretty cool on its own.

William

Very hardy cases, they generally don't show wear to engraved surfaces and don't dent near as easy as do softer gold filled or silver cases. Back when they were made, gold and silver wasn't very expensive, and that's the only reason they didn't use solid brass cases more often than they did.

regards,
bb

Roger;

You really got the picture taking down good...very impressive shots! You using your phone?

Thanks Tom, no not phone, my 15 year old Nikon
camera. Sometimes I get lucky

Roger

quote:

Very hardy cases, they generally don't show wear to engraved surfaces and don't dent near as easy as do softer gold filled or silver cases. Back when they were made, gold and silver wasn't very expensive, and that's the only reason they didn't use solid brass cases more often than they did.

regards,
bb

I like them a lot, the three I have are in great condition.

18s Arm & Hammer hunter, same design both sides.

Bezel & Crystal are present.

18s OF Hinged B&B Nameless.

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18s OF S B&B Nameless.

Back.

I only have one brass case, an ornately engraved 18s Dueber hunting case, I got for next to nothing because the bezel was missing.It sat in my drawer for many years, this year I sent it to William P. Fassler Co. in Florida, and for a very reasonable price, they fit a bezel to it, and plated it with gold.It came out absolutely beautiful, and it now is home to a 17J Hampden Menlo Park.Like William said, most of these were gold plated to begin with.I'm not going to carry this one because I don't want to cause any wear to it.Anybody have any idea why so many hunter cases are missing the bezel? I've seen too many to count with no bezel.

This is the one that I have. I'm still in the learning stages of a lot things, and I had never seen a brass case before this one. This is on a Seth Thomas Republic that I haven't had cleaned yet so it's not as shiny as it should be. I love that the detail is still so sharp.

Nice case.

The Arm & Hammer and Tornado cases are both in the same category.

Some were very thinly gold plated and some were not.

I would advise against cleaning or polishing because it will look good for a while then tarnish/oxidize again shortly but some of the detail will be lost with each polishing.

With watch cases, shiney is for gold.

How did you manage to get 2 photos in one post?

I bought a hunter pocket watch here a while back with a tornado case. When I got it, it looked fantastic. About a month later, not so much.

Lorne, I kind of cheated. I have access to Photoshop. It's a godsend for editing and resizing pictures for this site. And thanks for the comment about not polishing. You're right, this is brass, shiny is for gold!