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Victorian Canopy/Shower Bath. Mahogany & Copper. Very rare!

£ 5,500

Quantity in stock: 1

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DESCRIPTION:

A magnificent and extremely rare ‘Canopy Bath’ or ‘Shower Bath’. All canopy baths are scarce but those with mahogany enclosures are the rarest. The lucky user has the choice of having a bath, an overhead shower (from a huge rain-head) or being squirted by hundreds of horizontally-mounted body-jets.

This is the kind of piece one might find in a palace, a castle or a stately home; in the late 1800s this was a seriously expensive item. Until recently it was the largest and grandest exhibit in the former Thomas Crapper Museum (see below). It is in original condition, just as when it was removed from a mansion around thirty years ago or more. It is very long, very deep, very tall and very heavy.

Once restored, the retail price in a specialist’s shop would be somewhere around £18,000. I estimate the costs of restoration to top standards would be between £3,000 and £4,000.

DESIGN:

It was manufactured by John Shanks & Co. of Barrhead, Scotland around 1885. The tap block (mounted on the right of the shower canopy) is of solid brass and has ceramic indices on the tap heads. Between them is the control which allows the user to change from filling the bath, to overhead shower or to body jets. Beneath the tap block is the waste knob, also with a ceramic index, which one pulls out to drain the bath, or one lets it drop in to seal the waste.

The shower ‘booth’ is made of copper, not the usual zinc, so restoration will be much easier than is the case with most canopy baths. The bath itself is in the desirable ‘keyhole’ shape, which allows more space at the shower end.

The enclosure for the shower and the board which tops the bath are all made of mahogany, although the latter is currently painted black. The vertical panelling around the bath is made of pine and was intended to be painted, although perhaps in a better colour than black!

The side of the mahogany shower enclosure is a door which allows access to the tap supplies &c. for servicing. Similarly there is a removable door in the pine panelling below, behind which the waste outlet is sited.

Amongst the images you will find pages from one of my Shanks trade catalogues from the Victorian era, which feature the keyhole bath and the taps block control set.

DIMENSIONS:

From the floor to the top of the cornice on the shower end: 99 inches. Width: 42 inches. Floor to top of board over the bath: 25 inches.

Overall length : 92 inches, however if you look at the pictures you will see that there is a shallower box-section at the end of the bath. This could be cut off if necessary, reducing the length to 87 inches.

(Metric equivalents, respectively: 255c/m; 107c/m; 63.5c/m; 234c/m; 221c/m).

CONDITION:

It is in need of full restoration but it is in remarkably good condition. The bath itself has surface rust inside and out but the base iron casting is sound. It is covered in layers of peeling paint which require stripping and then re-surfacing. This cold-sprayed type of finish is most appropriate as the bath pre-dates the 1890s when vitreous enamel became the most popular finish for baths; before then they were painted. The mahogany needs stripping, a little repair and re-lacquering. One small piece of moulding is missing in one of the door panels, shown in the photographs. The tap mixer is in good condition but it will need polishing and servicing. The supply pipes are lead, but they can easily be changed to copper by any plumber who can solder. The copper shower canopy seems in good sound condition. If it should need any repair this is easy for a professional to do because it is copper and not zinc. The copper is painted on the inside; this should be stripped off and re-surfaced to match the bath, or the copper surface could be polished to a high shine.

SUPPORT:

After forty years of restoring antique sanitaryware I can advise you on how best to do all the work, or I can put you in contact with several specialists who could do some or all of it for you.

Please see my other listings of rare antique baths, which I will be adding to over the next few days and weeks. In addition I have hundreds of original antique loos, washbasins, taps, cisterns, trade catalogues, framed pictures and advertising which I will not find time to list individually but potential purchasers are welcome to come to see what is available.

COLLECTION:

Collection only, in person or by courier. The canopy bath and the other contents of the former Crapper Collection are stored just outside Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire. It is on ground level with good vehicular access. The wooden and copper parts are easily moved but the bath is a thick casting so it is very heavy; a van with a tail-lift is recommended. I regret I have badly damaged my back so I am unable to assist with lifting the bath.

AN EXHIBIT FROM THE FORMER THOMAS CRAPPER MUSEUM:

This is just one item from what was once the largest collection of antique sanitaryware in the country; perhaps anywhere. For many years I owned and ran the famous old firm, Thomas Crapper & Co., established in 1861. When I sold the business nearly ten years ago I retained what used to be the company museum.

Mostly assembled in the 1980s and 1990s, it was a private collection which was seen by relatively few customers and people in the trade. It comprised loos, basins, baths, cisterns, taps, accessories, trade catalogues, salesman’s samples and advertising ephemera; all by many different manufacturers, including Shanks, Bolding, Twyfords, Doulton, Jennings and Crapper to name a handful.
After extensive efforts failed to find a buyer for the whole Thomas Crapper Collection I am dispersing the contents.
It is an opportunity never to be repeated!

Please note this is not a business, I am selling the contents of my museum.

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