Here's the pictures, to start us out....
http://www.flickr.com/
If you don't want to see the pictures, well, here's what I know. Nice light tubing, presumably 531. The seller was kind enough to send along some photocopies of some early 1950s Brown Brothers parts catalogs, identifying some of the frame bits: Ekla lugs, Ekla fork crown 'For Standard "D" Blades,' Stallard road ends with mudguard eyelets, but no other extras.
The left rear dropout has "3048" stamped on the outside adjacent to the eyelet, and the same dies were used to stamp "3048" on the lower rear of the steerer tube. Always nice to find the frameset is a match, eh?
No other colors on the steerer, so this may be original finish. Not a trace of transfers left, though. And it was a grungy gus on arrival -- no shine at all, really. Plenty of spare gunk flowing from the oil port locations, and plenty of surface rust. It's cleaning off, but an eventual stripping and respray seems inevitable.
Oh, yeah -- head tube and bottom bracket shell have brass-capped oil ports. No rivet holes to indicate a headbadge. Braze-ons include brake cable guides on the bottom of the top tube. There's a cable guide at the low end of the down tube, and there appears to be the smoothed remains of a matching upper guide that's gone missing. Another cable guide on top of the bottom bracket shell with matching guide on the chainstay, drive-side.
The frame arrived with some kit mounted. GB Hiduminium spearpoint stem, albeit missing the clamp bolt for the bars. TDC bottom bracket for cottered cranks, "Made in England" stamped everywhere, twice, and also on the other side of everywhere for good measure. I think that bit may have been made in England. Also, what appears to be a TDC headset save for the dearth of "Made in England" stamps--they could've worn those stamps out on the bottom bracket, of course. Cyclo clamp-on pump mounts. All of it crusty, but quickly cleaned.
So who do you think built it? I've got one strong suggestion, but why spoil your fun.
Perhaps more interesting, how would you kit it out "correctly?" Help a brother out with some ideas, will ya....
Dan (hooked by the mystery, actually) Kehew
Davis CA USA