Petit & Fritsen:

1950’s-1990's, Holland.  P&F castings are much thicker and heavier than English bells.  Lathe marks are highly visible inside and out, but the castings are not polished smooth which gives the metal almost a florentine finish.  The castings are not as flared out as much as English bells either.   There are two styles of clapper mechanisms: one with felt covered spring cushions (similar to Whitechapel) and another with rocker springs (see picture of F3, below). The clapper shafts look like a long threaded bolt covered by a plastic sheath and the mechanism is bolted right through casting.  The clapper heads are large and round with flat sides.  The flight is a nut which holds the top part of the mechanism secure. The leather or nylon clapper pegs are usually felt covered.  There are looped, metal stiffeners inserted in the leather handles. The bell designation and pattern numbers (casting numbers are different from English bells) are stamped on handle. "Petit & Fritsen" "Made in Holland" may be stenciled in black inside the handle also. The handguards are decorated with little half moons. The strong minor third and other rich overtones produce the tower bell sound. P&Fs made in the late 1980's-1990's have a major third, but the other overtones are so rich, they still sound like tower bells. Because of this, P&Fs sound better on a single melody line, sparse chords or polyphonic music. The P&F Foundry uses a different numbering system for bell designations then other foundries. Our 3 octave set pictured below has Malmark clappers. A440.