By Melton Times | Posted 29 December, 2012
John Boulting sold his dad's 1947 Curta Calculator on Dickinson's Real Deal for £370 and is donating the money to LOROS.
John, from Tilton-on-the-Hill, was given £370 for his father’s Curta calculator and he donated the money to LOROS.
The businessman sold the antique on Dickinson’s Real Deal when it was broadcast from Leicester Tigers’ Welford Road stadium.
The calculator came into John’s possession when his father, Herbert, passed away in 1990.
Herbert was a local businessman and had purchased the item in the early 1950s.
“My father travelled around the world to exhibitions so I wouldn’t be surprised if he bought it at one of them.
“He used his calculator all of the time but it doesn’t hold much sentimental value as when the Stock Market crashed 1973-1974 my father used it to work out his losses.”
John (60) has raised money for LOROS in the past - it is close to home as the hospice took care of some of his friends.
The calculator has an interesting history. It was designed by a Jewish prisoner of war who survived because of it. Curt Herzstark was ordered to continue designing the calculator, which he had began researching a few years earlier, as the officers wanted to present it to Hitler on his birthday.
“The calculator was just sitting there doing nothing so I thought it may as well be helping someone,” John added.
