Hello all, It's been a long time since I've posted anything. I found this curiosity yesterday. A friend gave me this old saw at a flea market last year. It is lightly stamped BROWNE 3 CAST STEEL WARRANTED. If memory serves they started making these in 1865. I never saw an old warranted superior medallion with a small letter R at the end. Hmmmm? Pretty beat up and filed down to within an inch of its life. Hung it on a peg with all the other old well loved saws I can't bring myself to toss.
Sorry accidentally posted this when I meant to save it as a draft. I'm no internet wizz. Kind of stumbling along here. I hope I can attach pictures. Anyhow back to my post. Long story short, I took the medallion out of the old Brownes and found something quite unexpected. Anyone ever see this before? Looks like H. DISSTON over lapping PHILADa and part of a wing. I think the marks look like the regular Disston "Aztec" medallion from the same 1865 time frame. Only thing I can think of is I know they had a high rate of defective bolts and screws from the casting process. Maybe some weren't too bad, were restamped, and put into their second line stuff like this Browne's #3? This medallion appears to be punched down in pretty far. The more I look at it the more my head spins trying to figure out how this medallion came to be. Love to hear any thoughts! Best Regards, Scott
Definitely unusual, both the double stamping, and the small R. Drat ! More stuff to look for on my old saws. Thanks for posting.