Hi all, I wonder if anyone would care to venture an opinion on the date of this Drabble & Sanderson. The plate is (or was) 14". The spine is heavy and tapers from 15/16" at the heel to 13/16" at the toe. Bob
Hi Summerfi, Like a lot of the bigger makers, Drabble and Sanderson can be hard to date with any confidence, because they made saws over such a long period. It does look a bit early because of the heavier back. But I'd not be too confident.. Maybe 1850-60? but of course I'm just guessing.. Most likely before they got bought by Spear and Jackson in the early 1900's so it's got to be at least 100+ years old. Ray
Hi Bob, I put a D and S London on here a little while ago. I copy and paste here Ray's reply and Simons. Ray. Drabble and Sanderson had at one time administrative offices in London, but, I wouldn't think that they would have manufactured in London. I suspect that in this case LONDON, is probably more a quality indicator than anything else. I'd hazard a guess at late 1800's for a date, but that's just wild guessing on my part, it could easily be 1850's.. Simon Here is a D&S joining quite a long list of Sheffield makers who during the second half of the 19th cent used the word London in place of Sheffield. Some of them, as Ray says, had administrative offices in London, but these addresses were in the City of London, but I don't think would have implied even the degree of "making" that Alan proposes. From memory there were Groves, Moulson Bros, Joseph Tyzack's 4th (Fitzwilliam) and 5th (Bowdon) qualities, S&J's lower qualities John Cockerill and Lloyd Davies, Marshall and Cheetham (much earlier - c1830); not W Tyzack, Sons and Turner, nor Wheatman and Smith, and interestingly not S&J on their best quality stuff. Nor any that I can think of of the lesser makers like Garlick, Francis Wood, Wilcock, or the major factors like Ward and Payne. It's a very handsome saw - 1880-ish?? From here http://www.backsaw.net/index.php?option=com_jfusion&Itemid=58&jfile=showthread.php&t=244 So, 1850 possibly to a little later than 1860, but how much later is a bit of a question. Fred