Hello all, This saw is currently for sale. (It is not mine). It has two very curious medallions/pseudo medallions. I am, unfortunately , not prepared to pay the GBP300 to see if they are real, and if they are not, just what they are. One looks a bit like the obverse of a penny to me. But if they are bodged, then they have been bodged well. If they are real saw medallions, they are absolutely fascinating and I would dearly love to know who used them. The saw that they are on, to my rather limited mind is nowhere near the date that the "medallions" purport to be. It is the middle saw in the second photo. Anyway, see what you make of them. Fred
Fred, Since the medallion images look a bit like a George III "spade" guinea coin (but not gold in this case), perhaps this is a Taylor Brothers "Guinea" saw. See Taylor's tradenames and design picture (of the etch I presume)
Thanks again Kiwi, You are an absolute mine of information. The blown up image of the one that you have posted is a little too large to fit on my screen, but I can see the right hand side of the head and the Dei Gratia. And from what I can see of the other side of the "coin" from your thumbnail, it looks the same as well. I can now post it for Bob to copy to his Medallions website. Fred
Hi Fred, Sorry about the large image, but try what I use to fix that annoying and recurring problem; "right click" on the thumbnail with the mouse (I have an old desktop computer with a mouse) [this will show a list of options] select "open link in a new window" from the list of options [this will open the picture alone in a new window, where you can easily re-size it by using the "control" key with the "+" key (multiple times if required) to magnify the image to suit your interest (or "control" with "-" to reduce). You can then switch back and forth with the other window to continue viewing the discussion thread] The Taylor Brothers etch for their "Guinea Saw" seems to have been copied here in Canada by R H Smith Co, who used it as the basis for their "Gold Coin" saw etches which show the two sides of a 1902 era sovereign. (The medallion remained as R H Smith's manic beaver though)
Hi Fred & Kiwi, well I have to say Fred you seem to have a knack when it comes to finding choice saws, I must get some tips from you. Kiwi the literature (sheet) you have included really is the icing on the cake. I would say you hit it right on the head. Taylor Brothers Guinea saw, where these made for the export market, I am sure I have read something along those lines or was it perhaps later on & a different Maker, Slack Sellers, or perhaps Garlick, one of these also comes to mind as producing a Guinea brand saw made for the export market, or am I thinking of the George Washington token ? As for year of production for this saw, going on all of the info so far I would of put a time frame of 1918 to late 1920s, . Having said that its only a guess. Just as a side note George III 1788, the royal mint did not strike any silver or copper coins, small coinage was in such a shortage many larger employers, manufactures made there own coinage / tokens to substitute coinage, this was not a small scale practice this was over a period of 40+ years, a few years later we had what was called the cartwheel coinage penny and halfpenny, another side note, if you were rich enough to have a shilling in copper in your pocket back then then no doubt your trousers would of been round your ankles as the coinage was so big and heavy 12 cartwheel pennies side by side would measure 1 foot in length and the weight of them would of been 1LB, this coinage did not last very long, neither did peoples pockets or purses I would guess. The minters of these medals / tokens did a fantastic job, Was there any date on the advertisement from Taylor Bros Kiwi ? Thanks Kiwi, you got another post in , in the time it took me to waffle this lot out, many thanks Date 1902 close but no cigar.
The Taylor Bros tradenames picture is one Simon sent me, (from a catalogue dating about 1890 I think), Thanks Simon ! I think 1890ish would be my guess for the age of the "might-be-a-Guinea-Saw" that Fred has posted (and I claim to be 98% accurate to within 20 years, 18 times out of 20)