Somewhere in the rather distant past there was a discussion about arrised handles, to which I contributed a rule that I can now break: backsaws very seldom have them. As the pictures show, here is a very ordinary looking open handled back saw probably factored for this firm, which was almost certainly a supplier in the furniture-making area of east London. I think it can be dated, with all the uncertainty that every open handled back saw invites, to around the first decade or two of the 20th century. There is no directory entry for Davis Brothers, but their address was occupied by a miscellany of people in other completely unrelated trades from 1895-1915. What the Davis brothers were doing by selling a saw with a rather up-market handle like this is anybody's guess.
Hi Simon, I don't know about the rest of the saw, but the handle is lovely, and the departure of its temporary visitors takes nothing at all away from it. Also an interesting mark. I have never seen another one set out quite like it, but that doesn't mean an awful lot. What is the single letter mark at the handle end? I can't quite make it out. From the depth of it, it looks like it was stamped along with the rest of the mark. Is it a maker's mark or their trade mark or what? Fred
thanks, Fred. I wonder if the E is simply the old London district postal indicator, even though it's out of scale with the rest of the mark. I'm not sure what date these began to be revised in favour of NE, SE, SW etc etc. E does survive in the post codes of the Hackney area.