I have 2 old reel mowers. Was wondering if anyone had information on them?
Great American ball bearing #1102
Dille McGuife Tuft Master
It is not always possible to do research on something like this with only one picture and almost no information.
Nice to have the brand names but most older mowers are recognized by the wheels and wheels cannot be seen in your pictures.
You do not ask about value but generally this is what posters are looking for and the majority of information is gathered from 'for sale' or 'sold' listings online - usually eBay is the major source for information.
The Great American mower appears to have been made in Pennsylvania and I have found ads showing this company made push mowers as early as 1881. There is a lot of information available online (mostly vintage ads) but It cannot have been a really notable company as there is no article posted on Wiki about the company.
You can find several of the Great American mower listed for sale and sold on eBay so check out the links and see if any mower is the same as yours. Model numbers can rarely be found on a listing and I did not see any numbers listed in the vintage ads so 'looks' is what you'll have to go by. And, as I stated earlier, wheels are generally how you find the different 'models/age'.
This similar mower recently sold on eBay for $99:
www.ebay.com/
For sale listings on eBay; check out ads also; place a watch on any item to see if it sells. (I did find one same brand push mower that sold for $135 but the seller had had it listed for almost 3 years and this is not unusual.)
www.worthpoint.com/
For sale:
www.ebay.com/
Push mowers recently sold on eBay: These prices represent 'value' for that particular mower.
Most sellers do not ship and mowers are listed as 'local pick up only'.
www.ebay.com/
You can check out the vintage ads on Google and eBay to see if you can find your mower.
www.google.com/
Your second push mower is a Dille & McGuire Reel Mower.
www.facebook.com/
www.worthpoint.com/
Most sites say the year of manufacture is printed on the frame of the mower so check on that.
Brand listed for sale on eBay: $125 - $250 and $200. Place a watch on these to see if they sell.
www.ebay.com/
www.ebay.com/
www.ebay.com/
Sold in 2015 for $51
www.ebth.com/
Information: Ask questions on this site:
gardentractortalk.com/
gardentractortalk.com/
Check info on this link:
www.thriftyfun.com/
The lawn mower was invented by Edwin Beard Budding in 1830 in Brimscombe and Thrupp, Gloucestershire, England. The first United States patent for a reel lawn mower was granted to Amariah Hills on January 12, 1868.
I could not find the year of manufacture using your mower number. Here is Antique PQ Great American Reel Push Mower Pat. 1918 www.worthpoint.com/
The price of your Great American Pennsylvania reel mower is about $ 50-75.
Dille & McGuire Mfg. Co. started in 1870 in Richmond, Indiana, United States. Richmond, once called the "Lawn Mower Capital of the World." This company started producing push mowers in 1874. McGuire went to work improving the cutting design, and he developed a 40-pound push mower, obtaining a patent in 1875. All mowers produced between 1874-1889 were only sold in the US. Then this company was sold to Huffman Mfg, Dayton, OH in 1963.
The Turfmaster Mower bacame known as "The Worlds Standard Mower Since 1874".
Your Dille McGuife Tufmaster mower has an iron handle and is most likely made in the 50s. Here is a flyer from 1959 Dille & McGuire Company and there are similar to your hand mowers (penultimate page).
The price of these mowers with iron handles is about $ 65-100.
Ask a QuestionHere are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community or ask a new question.
Can you help determine what the name of this old reel mower is? The paint is faded really bad. It works great I cut grass 3 times a week with it. I need some tires for it.
I think you have a Neptune Rotary Cylinder Reel Push Lawn Mower
www.worthpoint.com/
The seller wrote that "Neptune is the manufacturer. Company from Shelbyville, Indiana."
I found in the Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office from July 13, 1948 information about "Neptune":
"Neptune for lawn mowers was registered in 1930 Great States Corporation, Richmond, Ind., a corporation of Indiana. Republished by registrant, present location Shelbyville, Indiana.
Claim use since Aug. 4, 1926"
Antique/Vintage NEPTUNE Man Power Rotary Reel Push Lawn Mower at $79.99
Can anyone help me identify the age and/or brand of this mower?
There are no visible markings anywhere on it other than the size of the blade width in the close-up photo.
Thank you in advance for any information you may be able to provide.
Most mowers like this have the marking on the wheel of the mowers. If the wheels were changed out it makes it even hard to identify the mower. The best way to find out more about this mower is to register a lawnmower forum and post the information there. On these forums, there are a lot of collectors who collect these older mowers and know quite a bit about them. I would post this on one of the many lawnmower forums and I am sure someone there could help out a lot better than we can. We normally will do a search on the item from the information that is given to us. Without this information, it makes it so hard to find this item or information for you.
Vintage unbranded lawn mowers were usually made to sell to a variety of stores and the store just used their name on a tag so this one could be any 'brand'.
It would take collectors to provide any information about mowers like this and they cannot always tell from just pictures but they may be able to tell an approximate age.
Does your mower have steel wheels?
Any old paint left?
You can ask your question on one of the forums and maybe someone will answer.
You will always have to join the group and more pictures would be better, especially of the wheels.
I'm thinking of restoring it. I can't find anything similar on eBay or reverse image search. I love the wheels! Any help identifying it would be appreciated. Thanks.
It is very difficult to identify vintage mowers without having a lot of knowledge about the subject and that usually means appraisers or collectors.
You should try your luck on some of the reel mower forums as these people love old mowers and should be able to provide at least some information but not value as they do not answer questions on value.
Here are a couple of sites to get you started:
www.oldlawnmowerclub.co.uk/
You might want to read some questions/answers from past postings:
I'm trying to find out anything about this mower I picked up. The name is worn off, but says Lady, model T on the wheel.
I miss my old push mower. I found it in the trash when I moved into my house many years ago and it was quite old but worked like a charm. I used it for almost 15 more years before it literally fell apart. I can't remember, but I think the pieces are in the garage. I need to check and see...maybe someone could put it back together. I think the push mowers are the best, but since hubby now does the grass, the mower was his choice--which was not a push mower. They are just so much better for the yard and the environment, but I get the ease of the gas one he picked.
I have a Special. No.55 Ballbearing reel mower. I am trying to determine the value and maker's identification?
I HAVE A MOWER LOOKS JUST LIKE YOURS . YOU FIND OUT ANY PRICE RANGES, I AM LOOKING TO SELL MINE .
Can anyone identify the manufacturer of this old reel mower I recently inherited?
We are having trouble identifying the make of this reel mower. It has steel wheels and a name on the handle S- - -s, which is hard to make out.
Any thoughts?
I am wanting to know how to identify an old reel mower I found. It says the model no. is 121-8189. I don't see much more other than cv6, looks to be red and gold.
Where do I look and what should I look for?
Truthfully; it is very difficult to identify old mowers but a brand name can help find age etc.
Generally the best information is found on forums but there is just not a lot of interest in old mowers in the US so forums are scarce or non-existent.
You might try asking about your mower on this site but all clubs will require membership but most are free.
the OldLawnMower Club is located in UK and I do not believe their membership is free. Also; here is a statement about mowers in the US.
We can only provide basic advice on North American lawn mowers made before 1960. If we cannot help directly we will pass your query to someone else in our club. We are unable to provide any help for any North American mowers made after 1960.
Here is a link to their web site:
www.oldlawnmowerclub.co.uk/
Sorry - Hopefully, another member will be able to provide more information.
