For quite a while now I have noticed that a lot of early London made planes crop up with what i have previously presumed to be an owners stamp of I C. The style is not always the same, but i find it curious as to how often it occurs on these early planes. The recently discovered Nathaniel Gamble has this mark, and an early looking smoothing plane i have just found has a similar mark . While examining the planes at the last David Stanley auction, I spotted a John Davenport, a Robert Wooding, and one other early plane that all had the "I C" mark. This all might be coincidence, but it has made me wonder if there might be a different explanation for the marks. These planes were possibly quite expensive to produce in the early 18th century, so is it possible that they were owned not by individual craftsmen, but perhaps by a large London workshop, who marked up there tools to differentiate them from the workers personal tools . If this is the case maybe research will bring to light an early London Joinery, or cabinet making business that would fit the "I C" mark
Hi Richard intreasting article i do hope more people get to read your blog best wishes
ReplyDeleteHello Richard - Is the name stamp of I CONNEL on this plane purely a coincidence?
ReplyDeleteIC. Since the owners mark is I Connel, might it be not too much of a reach to assume that John Connel had an initial stamp as well as a name stamp ? Especially if all these planes are turning up in roughly the same locality (given the passage of 300 years, they might be expected to disperse)
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