Hello all, I am lost with this one. As you can see from the pics, the only 3 holes in the plate fit the holes in the handle. This means that the handle is either contemporaneous with the plate (possible) or that the plate has been cut down and re-handled. The mark is a little offset to the rear of the blade, but perhaps not enough to account for 3 inches of blade being removed in order to take out the original handle holes. This saw came from the USA and so from the handle design it is either a late I Smith brand if the handle is British, or perhaps one of the earlier J Smiths in BSSM if the handle was originally fitted in America. (It must be a British blade with the "German Steel and the 3 crowns.) I have perhaps been a little too smug and well set up with myself because I have treated saws with no lamb's tongue (if British) with disdain and held them to be to be of little interest when collecting. And for various reasons I do collect mainly British saws. The question is, therefore, are there any noticeable differences between the style of handle of ,say, American 1840/50's handsaw handles and similar ones produced in the UK in the late 19th and early 20th century. If so, can anyone hazard a guess as to the origins of this one. There is really no other reliable dating evidence onthe saw as "I" could denote a "J" if early or an "I" if later. German steel and three crowns can also appear at any time. It has been suggested that it may be a branded saw from the stable of Wheatman and Smith, or, for that matter a brand produced by anyone at virtually any time. Fred PS ignore the backsaw on the 1st photo.
Fred, Just a thought... and I might be very very wrong... The handle looks like a shop-made replacement to me. I guess, the original handle got broken and previous owner, long-long ago, made this one using the originals as a template. Even though it might have the proportions of the original, the details on this handle, such as hook, v-joint etc., are quite "streamlined" and don't look like work of someone who makes saw handles for living. I have a couple of saws with similarly looking backsaw handles (from 30th 20C or even later) which were machined, this one looks hand-made. Hope this helps S
I'd like to fall off the fence and declare, without too much in the way of certainty, that I think this is probably a saw made by John Smith, who after 1849 was in partnership with Wheatman. The use of I instead of J may seem a little late, but only yesterday, cataloguing the Hawley Collection's saws, we came across a little back saw on which the owner had carefully engraved his name on the reverse side, twice: he included his address, which was in the county of Essex, and the first of the two s's was written as a "long" s, in other words a style I would have guessed might well have disappeared not many years into the 19th century: the date of these engravings was 1862. I realise all that may seem to have precious little to do with Mr I/J Smith. The handle seems contemporaneous with the blade (a common quality one, see p 711 of BSSM for details), judging by the holes, and is a rather early example (if it's pre-1849) of the style that has that hooked appearance to the nose; Greyhound's suggestion that it's a shop-made replacement could well be consistent with the lack of expert finishing that a 4th quality handle would get. I'd expect a German Steel saw to have a common quality handle. Let's hope a few more saws with that mark pop up, and we can compare the handle styles... Simon
Here's another example of an I. Smith / German Steel saw. The handle is damaged on the front side, but the rear view shows it undamaged. If it had three crowns like Fred's, they're worn away by now.