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Antique Victorian Shower Bath. VITREOUS enamel. Largely Restored. RARE!

£ 1,700

Quantity in stock: 1

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Victorian/Edwardian Canopy Bath or Shower Bath. The short version: body jets only.

Zinc Canopy expertly restored; just needs resurfacing/painting.

Bath VITREOUS ENAMELLED at cost of £1,000 over twenty years ago. Unused since.

Complete with all taps and fittings which need polishing/plating.

DESCRIPTION:

A magnificent and rare ‘Canopy Bath’ or ‘Shower Bath’. This is the short version which does not dominate the room in the way the tall ones can do. The lucky user has the choice of having a bath or standing in the shower end and being squirted by hundreds of horizontally-mounted body-jets. There is no overhead shower, although if desired one could be fixed to the ceiling above.

In the late 1800s this was a seriously expensive item. Until recently it was an exhibit in the former Thomas Crapper Museum (see below) but we never found the time to complete the restoration.

Once restored, the retail price in a specialist’s shop would be somewhere around £12,000. I estimate the costs of restoration to top standards would be around £2,000.

DESIGN:

It was manufactured by John Shanks & Co. of Barrhead, Scotland around 1900. The tap block (mounted on the left 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 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’ or canopy is made of zinc, which can be difficult to repair and to solder, but in this case that work has been done.
At the side of the canopy is a door which allows access to the tap supplies &c. for servicing. Beneath that is zinc panelling behind which the waste outlet is sited.

The feet are of one of the best designs, being lion’s paws surmounted by acanthus leaves.

DIMENSIONS:

From the floor to the top of the finials on the canopy: 73 inches. Width of the bath, from outside roll to outside roll: 31 inches.

Overall length : 74 inches.

(Metric equivalents, respectively: 185c/m; 79c/m; 188c/m).

CONDITION:

The two most expensive areas of work have been accomplished. The zinc canopy was stripped of paint and all of the corroded areas were cut out and new zinc sheet soldered in place. We then temporarily sealed the body-jet holes and conducted a pressure-test. The next task is to give the canopy part to a bath resurfacer to have it painted in a finish to match the white enamel.

The bath was sent to Drummonds’ enamelling works in Poland where it was shotblasted down to bare metal, then re-enamelled in a red-hot kiln using the traditional dry-frit method. This cost £1,000 all those years ago but it is around £2,000 now even to have baths enamelled with modern wet frit. The glass enamel finish is still like new because the bath has not been used since.

The bath itself has surface rust on the exterior but the base iron casting is sound. The taps and waste fittings have been dismantled and prepared for stripping and polishing to brass finish, or they can be nickel-plated. The cast iron parts of the ‘plunger’ waste and concealed overflow have been shotblasted and re-finished internally. All the metal parts are present and in restorable condition.

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.

VIEWINGS:

If you would like to view it in person do get in touch. 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. A few sample photographs are included above as a guide.

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 canopy is 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.

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.

Truly Reclaimed

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