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Historic Goldfields stamp mill model being auctioned for $215,000 in London

Headshot of Elena Morabito
Elena MorabitoKalgoorlie Miner
The Ivanhoe Gold Mine stamp mill at an exhibition in London in June.
Camera IconThe Ivanhoe Gold Mine stamp mill at an exhibition in London in June. Credit: Barry Macdonald/Supplied

A UK auctioneer selling a 1910 stamp mill model for $215,000 has asked the Eastern Goldfields Historical Society for more information.

The society received an email on March 2 from London-based Hatchwell Antiques, asking for information about a 10-head model battery stamp mill built by two employees of the Ivanhoe Gold Mine in October 1910.

Society researcher Robyn Bowden was intrigued and started researching the two men who built the stamp mill, with the woodwork by Sid Gibson and silverwork by W. J. Lawton, but initially had no luck.

However, Ms Bowden persisted and found a Sunday Times article published in 1931 about Mr Lawton, who was described as a “man of practical and varied experience in the motor business” and the managing director of Consolidated Motors in Perth.

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“In 1909 ... Mr Lawton secured an appointment as engineer in the Sons of Gwalia Mine, Gawlia, and later on the Ivanhoe at Boulder,” the article read.

“He was with the Ivanhoe for four years and during his association with the mine built one of the most remarkable mining models that has gone out of the State.

“The model was that of a 10-head battery and it was built almost entirely of solid silver taken a scale of 1 to 12 and every metal part in the real battery from which it was copied was carefully duplicated in the precious metal.”

Hatchwell Antiques said in the email it was seeking to sell the model after it was restored.

“The movement is working well, when the gear wheels are turned it moves the cams which lift the hammers which drop down, as they drop the rotate slightly, which would allow the hammer heads to wear evenly, so the Lawton made a very accurate working model,” the email read.

Ms Bowden said it was a “beautiful looking bit of equipment” and it would be lovely to return it to WA.

However, she said the society did not have the funds to buy the stamp mill as the organisation was not-for-profit.

The Sunday Times article said the stamp mill was sent to the chairman of the Ivanhoe Gold Mine in London and “was probably in the offices of the company”.

Ms Bowden said it was unclear how Hatchwell Antiques had acquired the stamp mill model.

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