Spear & Jackson handsaw with dated etch

This is a saw I refurbished for Mari. I see a lot of S&J "88's" in their various guises but this one has a very interesting etch, which includes the writing "Jubilee 1837-1887". Going by the various features, including sand-cast "centennial" style 1870's bolts and an incused "SxJ" medallion it probably dates from around the late 1880's. A WAG guess suggests that it is a special edition model to commemorate the 50th anniversary of S&J, which appears to be 1887. The handle is select apple with a heel plate, and the plate has been cut to shape with hand shears and required extensive hand-fitting. One of the images compares the plate versus a D-8 of a similar age.

Simon outlines that the company claimed its 2ooth anniversary to be around 1970, a date that is inconsistent with that outlined on medallion surrounds on 1920-1960 model 88's.

 

Haven't yet managed to download your pictures, but I think that the Jubilee referred to here is that of Q Victoria.
Simon

 

Hi Dusty,

Thanks for the job you did on that S&J, it's come up really well, a top quality English saw with an apple handle & heel guard, you don't see those every day of the week- at least not in Melbourne!

And thanks Simon, that would be spot on- I was sure that it was S&Js Jubilee, but Queen Victoria's Jubilee date it is, many thanks for that...


Regards

Mari

 

I agree that Simon seems to have nailed this one, but it still dates the saw to ca. 1887, which is very early for a D-8 knock off. Certainly a better piece of royal commemorative memorabilia than a coffee mug or a tea-towel.

Dating 88's by the medallion plate is problematic; 1940's (post war) models have a brass medallion surround with words to the effects of "saw makers for 160 years", which places the anniversary date around 1980.

 

Ken Hawley (than whom few were more knowledgeable) and another of our volunteers spent many many hours trying, with the help of a long series of S&J catalogues in their hands, to date the many 88s and 82s in the Hawley Collection: they did not succeed to their complete satisfaction.
I got the feeling, trying to date the photos I have of S&J output (similarly, with catalogues) that their output was very large and changed extremely frequently in small respects. It felt like a mug's game, and if their products hadn't been so high class, I might have ended up hating them.

 

Simon, I very much agree that dating S&J gear is akin to one of the 12 tasks of Hercules. If the boys from Hawley couldn't date the 88 lineage then mere mortals such as myself have no chance. S&J are not alone in "gilding the lily" in some of their advertising which make the task even more problematic. S&J are one of my favourite brands to work with, greatly under-rated, high class saws, at least the equal of much vaunted US brands... at a later date Mari will be posting a saw from S&J that I believe is unique.