Sawsters The S&J T3 catalogue of 1924-30 chronology offers the first mention of SPEARIOR/Double Mermaid that I have found. The T2 catalogue of 1923 (solidly dated) has no mention of either Marking. These Catalogues are both readily available to the appropriate Google search. Covid is channelling my S&J predilections. More on label screws/Medallions to follow. Tony
Double Mermaid (no Spearior) is in the 1915 catalog (per Astragal Press "The Handsaw Catalog Collection")
OK, I'll take the red pill. Spearior 88's are very common down under, >90% I see are post WW2, and I've dealt with 100s of these over the years. The pre-WW2 ones have the old, large diameter, incused "SxJ" medallion, some have a brass heel plate. Pretty rare, very desirable, very nice saws. Occasionally apple, sometimes beech The post war ones typically have the "unbreakable" dowelled handle and a circular brass plate around a Disston-style stamped medallion.... "saw makers 180 years". Early are painted black, later (the greater majority) are red (1950s ?) and very, very rare green painted brass. Exclusively beech. Even later have... "saw makers 200 years" with a grossly simplified medallion (>1970?), often with red enamel infill. The bicentenary for S and J was??? Early sixties so that may be a fixed dating point but I reckon they were a bit rubbery in allocating the age of the company at times, so caveat emptor trying to date using the medallion plate.
The T2 AND T3 catalogues show no additional circular plate around the medallion for 171 saws also the etch for 1923 171 shows "made by new process" and t3 cat shows "Spearior". Pricing is interesting; using a 26in 171A for example= 1915 118 shillings per dozen : 1923 (T2) 248 shillings per dozen :T3 Cat 222 shillings per Dozen Possibly post war inflation? Kiwi;what are the backsaws numbered as in 1915? 1923 has Extra cast steel Mermaid 260/266: The search goes on...
T2 And T3 cats show 171 saws with Carved hardwood handle in 26inch only for T2 T3 has 20,22,24,26,28. No mention of Applewood/Rosewood availability or Thumbhole handles. T2/T3 cats make no mention of a 173 saw with a straight back. I like the T2 catalogue as it is clearly dated as was the 1910 price list. The T3 catalogue is not dated so could be anytime post the dated T2 catalogue. It was mooted as 1930 by the person who uploaded it but has no date visible on any pages.
The T3 catalogue shows the brass disk around the medallions of 88A,82 and Leapfrog saws, T2/T3 make no mention of the 171 saw; 171A only. None of this is very clear, Simon warns of this in his book.
Tony, 1915 backsaw for Mermaid backsaws is the same 260/266 numbering as you noted, (interesting to see the extra screw through the back and S&Js marketing spiel for it). [note that my previous double mermaid catalog saw pic shows a disc/label around the medallion. (same for mermaid & other saws)]
I have found a tract named "Concerning Hand Saws" published in 1928 by Spear and Jackson. This features "Spearior" handsaws in its illustrations and "Spearior' advertisements. It is excellent reading on saws in general particularly tensioning and setting. Toolemera has a 1950 version; my Fifth Edition 1928 came from Archive.org. Happy Reading Tony