eBay Tuesday: An Apology For A Lack Of Gasoline

If you were counting on a product to arrive at your business and were informed by a kind letter that it was delayed, and that arrival time was uncertain, how would you react?

That's what's left to the reader to imagine in this week's auction item, offered by user thesuz11. The Feb. 20, 1903 letter was sent to the N.N. Hill Brass Company in East Hampton from the Lenox Oil Station in New London. The station says the particular grade of gasoline ordered by the East Hampton company is difficult to keep in stock due to high demand, leading to the delays. 

"We are all out of it at present and transportation is delayed to such length that we do not wish to promise shipment at any stated time," the writer states.

There is little information available on the station. It was operated by Nichols and Harris at 119 State Street. In an advertisement published a month after this letter, it invites people to heat their homes with their wagon-delivered oil at 11 cents a gallon. "Lenox Oil used in your lamp brings comfort to your eyes," it promises. 

The N.N. Hill Brass Company, meanwhile, was part of East Hampton's wide range of bell companies. Founded in 1889 by Norman N. Hill, it began manufacturing bells and toys. It became more of a toy industry after winning a contract to produce wooden toys for the Walt Disney company in the 1930s, and ultimately closed in the 1960s.

East Hampton's bell history is detailed on the website of the Bevin Bros. Manufacturing Company, the last of the bell factories to survive in the community. The company credits poor farm country and a lack of competition for the existence of more than 30 bell companies in the town. Bevin Bros. suffered a devastating fire last year, but has vowed to continue its operations.

The letter measures eight and three-eights by 11 inches with some wear and tear and creases. The starting bid is $9.99. The auction ends at about 7:12 p.m. tonight.

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