T Fox Backsaw

I got this little 10" backsaw in a boxlot at the local auction this week, and I'm having trouble identifying its heritage.
It appears to be English, with its crowns beside the name stamp and with its small (9/16" dia) Lion & Unicorn medallion.
As the stamp does not include "Sheffield", its likely from some other location.
The style, split nuts, medallion, etc, look to me to be from about the 1870s era (but that's just a WAG), and the "T" initial doesn't fit with HSMOBs Foxes; Joshua, Samuel, and Ernest Fox

Any suggestions ?

 

Hi Kiwi,

I will state quite openly that I know nothing about this saw, if indeed much can be "known" amongst the outer and more obsure reaches of the universe of saws. It is also not easy to search for "Fox" in the directories because there are so many of them, especially when there is uncertainty about where you are searching and when. I have had a superficial trawl through the Directories and can come up with nothing.

So, I am back to speculating or WAG -ing. And the problem with this is that Simon (or someone else who really knows things) is going to come along in a couple of days/weeks time and trash it all - but that is life.

In the past the reason that I have not been able to find a maker in the Directories is because they are not there as a maker - the saw is a brand. And T Fox is very redolent of an easy (cheap) stamp to make to put on a branded saw. The problem with this, of course, is that there is more than just T Fox on it. But if it was made in the 1870+ period (a date with which I agree and may even go a little later because of the flatness of the handle), then this was the beginning of a period of intense competition in the saw market with manufacturers tarting their saws up and creating brands in order to get an "edge" in the market. e.g Tyzacks' transformation of Fitzwilliam to Fitzwilliam and Co.

This may be the case here. I do not wish to disparage any saw, let alone one that is probably better than the majority of mine but it never was, by the looks of it, an expensive saw. And what better to add status to a saw than to put a couple of crowns on it? A similar case could be made for "Cast Steel" which, by this time was probably meaningless, as steel for saw blades was "cast" in one form or another and had been for some time. And, of course the "Warranted Superior" label screw is utterly meaningless. So is this a saw trying to portay itself as something that it isn't in order to get ahead of the competition?

I am also always suspicious when there is no place of manufacture on the saw. If you put T Fox of Plymouth, Sheffield or London (after the HSMOB Foxes), then this was open to being refuted. No-one could possibly refute just "T Fox". It is not as though it is (was) a household name in the saw world and big enough to be recognised in it's own right without further explanation.

So, after all this rambling is the saw by T Fox (manufacturer) or is it a brand?
I suspect that we will get to know at some stage.

Fred

 

Thanks Fred,,

I think you're correct that this is not a first line saw
I seem to get overly enthusiastic about each new saw when it first comes to my notice(which makes collecting them fun ) and I should really allow some time to pass before broadcasting comments.
On reflection, the stamping and the smallish size of the steel back ( not as heavy as most of my other saws), would fit a lower quality and possibly brand name or general merchant status. Also, although the handle has the nice finely tapered horns of some old saws, the wood does not show the overall aging and dings/dents expected on old saws and I think maybe I should add 30+ years to my initial age guesstimate, to 1900s say
Oh well, not to worry, I did find another old saw at a sale today (separate posting)