Hinde Harrington was a firm from Wolverhampton that started building the Desideratum ordinary in 1876. The firm changed name several times: around 1879 the name changed to J. Harrington & Co, in 1881 it changed to Desideratum Bicycle Co.
The bicycle you see here is diplayed in the Penny Farthing Museum (Glynn Stockdale collection) , a coffeeshop in Knutsford, England. It must have been built in 1878 or 1879. It has got the 'ball' head that was fashionable for a very short period in the late 1870's. It already has front wheel brake, while the 1877 model still has rear wheel brake. It has nice early Bown ball bearings at the front.
It has some very special features, apart from the ball head:
- the spokes are headed at the hub and are very easy to replace. It has spoke nipples at the rim and must be one of the very first bicycles to have those.
- the step is adjustable in height, it is fixed to a metal strip brazed to the backbone. Not clearly visible in my pictures, that's why I added an illustration from a booklet about the Stockdale collection.