Hello all, I don't have much hope for this one but I will try anyway. The corrosion is very bad and I cannot really tell which is corrosion and which is part of a letter. If you look at this in conjunction with the photo's, I am assuming that the surname starts with a "D". The next could be an E. Because the third letter has no complete bottom line to it and what looks like an infilled section at the top, the possibly "R" "A" or "K". And the last letter is an "S". BSSM is not a lot of help on this as it has no maker with and initial "I" and a surname beginning with "D", and even if the I is an archaic J, then the only thing anywhere near it is one of the Deakins, Then again in BSSM, they don't have an "S" at the end of their trade names, it is Deakin only and the only near hit is James and Thomas Deakin. If the "I" is an archaic "J", then it seems to me to be a little late for this practice, as the W/S medallion must put this saw into the 1860's at the earliest. It is a bit of a conundrum and any help will be greatly appreciated. Fred
Dear Fred, that is a head scratcher ! I have unfortunately a fair few that have their marks near obliterated by the ravages of time, so can totally sympathise with you here. Perhaps it may be a second quality line (or name) of one of the more well known players in Sheffield. It may well require going through listing by listing to see if it's in the bottom of the listing under other trading names in BSSMs entries? Regards Mari
Hi Mari, I have asked Simon already and he is stumped. I also went through all the surnames in the Historical Directories for Sheffield beginning with the letters "D" and ending in "S" from 1862 to 1901 and could find nothing that matched. There are surprisingly few such surnames and so the search was not as bad as it first appears to be. It could be a brand , but as far as I can remember, most brand names do not have a place of manufacture attached. It looks like I may have to wait until the same mark that is more complete, appears somewhere. Fred
No answers found by me either Fred I have "Daedalus & Co" arced over "Sheffield" on saws, but no initial "I" Reference to a "John Davies", ironmonger in 1871, but no indication of any "& Co" Reference to "DeGarrs & Allen", selling joiners tools in 1901, but its Henry Degarrs Several of the "Dawes" family were sawmakers, but only mentioned in London and Birmingham .... Another one for filing in the "mystery" pile for now
or maybe; Damms, John (~, Sawmaker). Address: 48 Clarence Street, in 1841. Recorded in: Henry & Thos. Rodgers Sheff & Roth Directory - 1841. (but maybe too early for that WS medallion)
Thanks for the effort Kiwi, I didn't go back before 1860 because of the W/S medallion. I am pretty sure that it is original to the handle. I am probably going to have to take the handle off at some stage in order to see if it is original to the saw. It looks as though it has been off before and may not be that arduous a job. Fred