Hi ray et al. Found this interesting saw on ebay. It was advertised as a taylor Bros due to the "Advance" mark and the "lamb lodged" mark. Heres the problem. Rivets not splits (though they may be replacements) The font is (to my mind) early 19th not late though this is very speculative. Chamfered nose to the back? HSMOB gives two dates for Melvin London "Melvin London - 1840" "Taylor Brothers.....ADVANCE MARK 1856 - 1915 (Other marks Melvin) Any thoughts welcome. Ray I mentioned you because I saw you had a Melvin advance with split nuts. Cheers Al
Hi Al, Sorry I am not Ray, but I don't think there is much doubt that this is a box standard Taylor Brothers brand. Having looked at HSMOB I can see where the confusion has arisen. When the provenance for a maker or date relies on "SAW" - "Saw in the hands of a collector", take these ascriptions with an enormous dollop of salt. They are often mildly inaccurate or downright wrong. There may have been an independent "Melvin" but I seriously doubt it as no directory entry is cited. Although, as always, I hope that I am proven wrong. Fred
. Hi Fred, No you're right its definitely a taylor bros. I was just curious as to timeline. Whats the skinny on 2nd line names? Were they companies bought out by bigger businesses or names invented by the big companies as a merchanting tool. I have a Brades catalogue from 1941 which lists the names they trade under (22 no less) and 4 other second line names..(Incindentally it has the dealer Representative telegraph (cable) names included which is a lovely insight into the times. Very much like modern email names) Still it's a very goood saw, .07/16ths at the back and .05/16ths at the front. Handle has a very slight movement but otherwise very nice.
Hi Al, Kiwi posted a graphic some time back of the Taylor Brothers brands. Here is the link to it. http://www.backsaw.net/index.php?option=com_jfusion&Itemid=58&jfile=showthread.php&t=152 Post no. 2. It has all the brands. Perhaps not as many as Brades but still an impressive list and Melvin is there with the best (or second or third best) of them. I would like to know where HSMOB got the 1840 date from but I suspect that I never shall. Neither do I know, unfortunately if Taylor Brothers took over any brands and subsequently used their names, or if they just made the brand names up. Anyone with a history of Taylor Brothers, or do we have to wait for Simon's book? Fred
Hi Al, I thought the Melvin London was interesting in that it was not made by "Melvin" but Taylor Brothers, and further it was not made in London, but Sheffield... I thought I had a picture of the mark, but I can't find it just now, so I'll dig out the saw and take a picture for you. The 1840 date in HSMOB is probably incorrect, but that assertion is just based on the general look and style, so it's not very helpful. If forced to guess a date I'd say second half of the 19th century, maybe 1870's or even a bit later. There was a trend to proliferate multiple brands toward the latter half of the 1800's I suspect just to confuse the customer and gain a bigger market share with a wider range of product. The word "London" and the way it's used in this instance I think was intended to imply a level of quality and style rather than a place of manufacture, as we know it was more likely to be made in Sheffield than London. Regards Ray.. PS... Forgot to mention, I made a new handle for mine, the original handle was non existant, it's in the stable of "preferred user saws" Here's the handle I made. I kicked up the hang angle for some reason that now escapes me...
Thanks Hi Ray and Fred, Fred, many thanks for the link as always this site is an almost inexhaustible spring of knowledge and help Ray, What a beautiful handle. That walnut is stunning. Great Job! Was the original handle London pattern. Im waiting on a book of the history and timeline of fonts 1600 - 1900 which I think will be helpful in future. Often the seraphs and such change slightly (enough to help with dating) but without a proper guide Im certainly not game enough to identify them. I do however think it will prove a helpful identifying tool. al