Fascinating piece of history. There are some more detailed photos of a more recent model here, with the foot spring in place. That doesn't look too difficult to create with something workable and appropriate for the time period.
https://www.boggsequipment.com/prod...-perforator/It looks like your top surface has been replaced with a modern cutting board of some type. If it were me, I'd probably want to find a cabinet door or some piece of furniture from an antique shop to replace it with something more in-period.
Amazingly, the Rosback Company from 1881 still exists in Benton Harbor and has parts for sale online (for their modern perforators and scoring machines).
https://www.rosbackcompany.comI agree that Scott at the American Philatelic Society would be the first choice to start with. There a couple of other photos of Rosback perforators on SCF here,
https://goscf.com/t/71965#637978That thread also mentions another philatelic connection to Benton Harbor that is familiar to many specialist US collectors,
Quote:
Stamp collector Alvin Filstrup, worked for the Covel Manufacturing co., with office directly across the street from the Rosback Co. He used imperforate, privately perforated coils (made for him by Rosback) and other issues on his company and personal mail. See Steven Belasco's book on vending and affixing machine perforations for more details. There is also a small write-up about the Covel coils in the Scott Specialized at the end on the vending and affixing machine perforation section.
Edit to add:
Here are some examples of stamps perforated with a Rosback perforator (Spink sale 117 from 2009),
Posted 09/30/2023 09:40 am
