A.S. Gillott owners & appreciation club

what’s the score with the big Gillott lettering on the downtube?

According to Mark Stevens the block lettering was introduced in 1955 - there were different versions of it.
Grainy screenshot of one MS was selling (I guess he took an offer the actual listing photos are gone ) a late 50s Ghent model apparently.

The red eBay one: the top eyes look wrong - all the Gillotts I’ve seen have long elegant ones and fork crown seems odd too.

The eBay Gillott, what’s the score with the big Gillott lettering on the downtube?

Here's my take on block lettering as opposed to signature style transfers.

I'm sure we all know that in the past the cycling authorities were often very strict with amateur rules - Marcel Planes* was effectively banned for life for accepting a few shillings from Hutchinson tyres for a testimonial he gave them. There was a longstanding rule that published photographs of amateurs must not show a legible frame maker's name - hence the desire by makers to show their name by other means, e.g. Bates Diadrent forks. Signature style transfers were acceptable.

This all began to break down from the fifties onwards, although it was a long drawn out process - I seem to remember even into the seventies there were some people who were obliged to tape over trade names on clothing. How does this affect block letter transfers? Well I suppose if you were an aspiring amateur buying a new frame you had a choice between wanting to look as if you were a sufficiently notable amateur to get your picture in Cycling, or cutting straight to the chase and trying to look like a pro from day one.

So the style of lettering may not tell you much about the age of the frame, but more about the attitude of the person who specified it.

• If you don't know about Marcel, google him.