PHELPS THIRD MODEL???

I just bought a pair of cuffs that I have never seen before.  At first I thought they were Phelps but then noticed the keyhole was not on the sides but on the bottom of the cuffs.  The bows are flat on all sides  and milled on the inside area.  The pictures are from the auction listing and not of the best quality.  They are also badly rusted.  

Has anyone ever seen this style of cuff.

Ron

ronspitz wrote: ↑

Sep 15, 2022

I just bought a pair of cuffs that I have never seen before.  At first I thought they were Phelps but then noticed the keyhole was not on the sides but on the bottom of the cuffs.  The bows are flat on all sides  and milled on the inside area.  The pictures are from the auction listing and not of the best quality.  They are also badly rusted.  

Has anyone ever seen this style of cuff.

Ron

Congratulations on your purchase sir. I’m new to collecting handcuffs but I have never seen one of these. Ron J

It's always exciting to see something different from that period. Can't wait to see if they are stamped, and some better photos. As far as I know they are unique.

Great find Ron, do you think they could be prototypical Tower of some kind?

Spencer

Thanks guys.  It's going to take a lot of work to clean them up.  I debated on not posting until I got them, but that could be a few weeks.  Hopefully they will be marked but the markings may be covered by the body of the cuff.  The only other cuff that they might be is the Adams, but that would be quite a departure from the Adams style.  My thought is they are Phelps.  They came from an estate in Eastern Canada.  The father passed away and the kids are selling a lot of neat old stuff.  This was the only set of cuffs.

Ron

Ron, we had discussed this cuff a few months ago, in one of the threads. George Brett in Canada had one at one point he had tried to sell to me, and several other collectors. His asking price was pretty stout. I do not know where this cuff ended up or who owns it now? Its been a while sine I talked to George, so I havent been able to ask him about it. I too, think its an experimental run of cuffs made by Phelps. The question is, "where does it fall into their timeline and how many were made?" Answers we may never get. Great to see that you located another one! After yours is cleaned up and refurbished, it will be a very unique piece to have in your collection! Congratulations on this awesome discovery!
-Richard Knip-

fyi----You'll see this most unusual handcuff on a display board - from the 2004 Sid Radner, Las Vegas Houdini Auction Catalog:

P. 81   (directly above an "Adams")

There was no name tag - specifically shown for this handcuff.

Am also very interested in where in the "time-line", this model fits into.

Here are two photos that I took of it, at the 2004 Las Vegas Auction

....and what about THIS one?.....

A "Phelps" with "TEETH", instead of Notches on the Bow.

Joe

That is a great piece of detective work and very observant of you. Looks like a few of these were made but for whatever reason they never caught on.

Spencer

here is the photo of the "teeth" model.......

Great information.  I noticed the chains are different.  Richard do you remember what George was asking?  I have never seen any information on the Phelps cuff except that the two known models have the key hole in different locations.
Looking at the Phelps patent Sept. 4, 1877 it was a reissue and assigned to John Tower, Brooklyn, NY.  So Tower made the Phelps.

Ron

Am I seeing these two differences correctly?:

*  Ron's cuff has HOLES on the inside of the bows.

*  Geo. Brett's cuff has "RAISED NOTCHES" on the inside of the bows?

On another note, is it "suspicious" that Geo. Brett's cuff is so free of patina & rust?

--Joe Fox

George's cuff also had the notches on the inside of the bow, similar to that of an Adams Handcuff. As far as asking price, he never directly quoted me a price. He only asked if I wanted them. I told him that I did, but that is all of the further, that conversation went. He hasnt talked to me since then. Through the grapevine, i had heard that his asking price was $3000. As far as the condition of his cuff, i was only given a few pics of the cuffs and know nothing of its history. So, i cant "for sure" say it has been cleaned, rebuilt or anything like that. For all we know, it may have been a display cuff somewhere and has never been used for actual police work? We just dont know. The condition does make me feel as though it has been cleaned/polished at some point in its life. I have no idea where this cuff is now?

In the last thread we discussed this cuff on, someone had shared pics of somebody's display boards that had a similar cuff. It was from the Brindamore boards. The cuff in question is located to the bottom right hand corner of the sign, in the top picture. It has the 4 twisted chain links, like Ron's cuff does.
-Richard Knip-

Congratulations Ron,

This is a really cool and odd cuff. I was one of them who once was offered the first one from George Brett.

My guess is that this is a try to make a "high security" Phelps, just like how the Guiteu is developed from the ordinary Rankin. As I can see, the bit key has a small protruding top, probably to enhance security.

One thing that intrigues me is the bow pattern with drilled holes. I only know of this lock system from much later cuffs like Horst Moabit and an other odd cuff in my collection. I certainly didn't expect that on such old cuff.

Now we know of at least three of them and putting them in a time line would be interesting.Since these can be considered a development of the regular Phelps, they should be later in production. It's also quite possible that it was a different company than Phelps that manufactured them.

Lars

Here is a good view of the inside of the bow showing the notches on the one George has/had. Looks exactly that those from an Adams cuff on this example.
-Richard Knip-

Thanks Richard!

From the other pictures it looked like drilled holes.

Lars

Here is a picture of the cuffs I purchased.  The bows do have the milled notches like the Adams and Phelps.  The chain is different than the other examples posted here.  The cuffs are now being restored.  Hopefully when the rust is removed they will be functional.  I do not see any markings on the bows or the body of the cuffs.

Ron

ronspitz wrote: ↑

Oct 18, 2022

Here is a picture of the cuffs I purchased.  The bows do have the milled notches like the Adams and Phelps.  The chain is different than the other examples posted here.  The cuffs are now being restored.  Hopefully when the rust is removed they will be functional.  I do not see any markings on the bows or the body of the cuffs.

Ron

I hope you post photos after you’ve had them restored. Ron J

Another nice find Ron and it would be great to see some photos of the restoration.

Spencer

Just received the cuffs that I am calling Phelps/Towers, from Bob Dix.  He did a great job of removing the rest which was throughout the cuff freezing them completely.  The cuff has had a lot of use and worn parts were found inside.  The locking mechanism is very strange and when Bob sends pictures I will post them.  I did not want to replate  them but keep them as original as possible.  

There a no markings on the cuffs.  They may have been made between the Patent of the Phelps cuff and the Patent of the Tower cuff which is 1862-1874.

Remember I also had a pair of French leg irons where the prelock buttons were missing.  Bob did another miracle in making new buttons and now the LI's are restored.

Ron

Absolutely beautiful Cuffs, Ron! Bob did an amazing job making those work again!
-Richard knip-

That is a real gem and as always Bob did an outstanding job.

Spencer

I was going through some pictures I have collected and came across this picture from the Jack Arno Estate.  I don't know where I got it but it looks like it may be the one that was offered for sale from Canada. 

Ron

Yes,  I wrote to the police museum where Jack Arno worked or displayed these cuffs, but they have not responded.