L&H Electric Brander 54
Updated September 5, 2026
| Lot number | 376 |
| Auction | Hancock Estate Auction |
| Date | September 25, 2026 at 9:30 AM CDT |
| Auction house | Harrison Auction & Realtor |
| Location | Gracemont, Oklahoma |
L & H ELECTRIC BRANDER, MODEL 54, L. & H. MFG. CO., MANDAN, N.D., 115/120 VOLT 1000 WATT LIVESTOCK BRANDING IRON WITH CORD A genuine ranch-used electric branding iron from the best-known name in the business. The tool has a cream-white cylindrical body, a heavy hand-forged iron bail handle of bent rod construction with a rectangular grip loop and triangular bracing rods, and a heating head at the working end consisting of a half-round element and a flat straight bar face, blackened from use. The original heavy three-wire rubber cord with a molded grounded plug is present and coiled, secured with twist ties in the photographs. The brass and enamel data plate on the barrel reads L & H ELECTRIC BRANDER / MFD. IN U.S.A. BY / L. & H. MFG. CO., MANDAN, N.D. / PATENTS 2,514,618 - 3,067,314, with the fields MODEL 54, SER. 116642, VOLTS 115/120, and WATTS 1000. Approximately 17 to 18 inches in overall length. This is the same lot group as the pair of hand-forged H branding irons offered elsewhere in this sale, and the two together tell the whole story of how ranch branding changed, the fire-heated irons and the electric one that replaced them. It makes a strong western, ranch-office, barn, or steakhouse display piece and is also of interest to anyone still branding, though it has not been plugged in or tested and is sold strictly as a display and as-is item with no representation that it works or is electrically safe. Sold as one brander with its attached cord. Description L & H electric livestock brander, Model 54, with a cream-white painted or coated tubular barrel housing the heating element and connections. Hand-forged bail handle at the rear made of bent round iron rod: a rectangular grip loop with an inner rod, joined to the barrel by two angled bracing rods forming a triangle, all wrapped and clinched at the joints in the rod-braced construction L & H advertises as bracing at all stress points. Working head at the front consisting of a half-round arch element rising from the barrel and a flat straight bar brand face across the bottom, the face coated black with old carbon and burnt residue. Based on L & H's published product line, a half-circle-plus-bar head is the configuration the company describes on its semi-universal style brander, meant to build almost any letter or number by making a series of separate applications rather than burning a fixed brand in one press. This identification of the head style is read from the shape in the photographs and is offered as an opinion only; no L & H catalog number for the head is claimed. Original heavy black three-conductor rubber cord with a molded three-prong grounded plug, coiled and tied in the photographs. L & H states its branders ship with a ten-foot three-wire grounded cord, and this cord appears consistent with that, though the cord was not uncoiled and measured, so no length is claimed. Data plate, quoted verbatim as read from the photographs: L & H ELECTRIC BRANDER, MFD. IN U.S.A. BY, L.
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