Any name stamp on the spine, Johnny? Looks British, but it could be just about anything without additional info.
That's the problem, I don't have the saw with me to check for any markings. The old guy selling it can't give me any more info but he really doesn't want much for it. Yeah I was also thinking it's probably British, you don't really find many vintage USA saws in South Africa.
The saw eventually arrived.. There is a stamp on the spine which reads: "P. Codfrey Maryland Point Stratford". I will post some photos later.
Below are a few photos I took with my cell, sorry about the bad quality. I can't seem to find any information on this "P. Codfrey" anywhere, could this saw have been made by one of the bigger saw manufacturers and sold off to a small lesser known saw seller who just branded it with his own company name?
The easy part is in saying that there is a Maryland Point in Stratford, London. The not so easy part is is finding out who P Godfrey was. (And I suspect that it is Godfrey not Codfrey as no such name exists in the Directories that I have searched). I have just tried a Google search and a Philip Godfrey comes up as an ironmonger in 1902 at Maryland Point - from, of all things a pub history of the UK. from here http://pubhistory.co.uk/StratfordHistory/Stratford1902Streets/Stratford-LeytonstoneRoad.shtml If you go to the above link, scroll down past the West side to the East side and it is the 12th entry down "6 Godfrey Philip ironmonger" It has to be him. Fred
Thanks I think you are right. So if wiki is right an "Ironmonger" is a Hardware store? Which leads me to think he just stamped the saw with his name and didn't actually make the saw?
An ironmonger is definitely what some would call a hardware shop. In the east End of London in the 1800's/early 1900's a furniture making industry developed, mainly, I think in the Shoreditch area. Many saws from this time have London addresses or London as a place stamped on them. London as a place was possibly a bit of hype as Sheffield companies may have had offices in London but few saws were made there except for very early ones. Many saws with London addresses were saws supplied by ironmongers to the furniture trade but made elsewhere. This is a short read if you want to:- http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb...n/Kebbell/Word Docs/ep-shoreditch-history.pdf go to page 4 and read from there. Stratford is about 4 miles East of Shoreditich as the crow flies. Whether it had a furniture industry or not I don't know but the same principle applies. Ironmongers who had their names put on "their" saws would sell to local trades. It is interesting how it got to you. Export (probably not) or a carpenter moving countries?? Fred
Thanks for all the info. I find it fascinating how much history a seemingly insignificant saw like this could have. How it ended up in South Africa is a good question. I bought it from a guy down in Cape Town who found it in a barn on his farm. Probably was a carpenter who moved here as you suggested. The South African Boer wars was during 1879–1915 so it could even have ended up here during those times.
Can I add a couple of points One is that Stratford was a prosperous semi-industrial area, with a big locomotive works (my great grandfather put rivets into loco boilers there in the 1880s) and Maryland was a busy part of the place. An ironmonger would have had a good trade. It's not impossible that the mark maker (probably a Sheffield tradesman reading a dimly written order from far distant London) misread the name, or even just had a Friday afternoon moment, like the mark maker for this Robert Sorby...