A week or so after hearing from Bob, I was talking with Greg McLemore, who lives in
Las Angeles. I raised the subject of the BAC/Simplex machines and he agreed that the
BAC stamper was almost certainly a Simplex. I asked Greg how many Simplex
machines he knows to have survived in the States, and he said he had probably
seen several over the years but couldn't remember where. However, he did recall
one selling on eBay a while back, which came from California. More importantly
though, Greg recalls a Simplex that sold at auction in France, for which he was
able to email me a picture.
This picture provides almost conclusive evidence that the BAC machines
were made by Simplex. Although the front and side castings are not as decorative
on the 'French Simplex', the motifs on the four corners of the dial plate are clearly
evident, although for some reason they appear to have been ground down and had
the numbers 1 - 4 painted over them (funny people, the French)!
The Simplex stamper which sold at auction in France.