TRADEMARKS ON BASE-METALTABLEWARE

1 Late 18thcenturyto circa1900(includingmarks onBritanniametal, iron, steel,copperalloysandsilver-platedgoods) ., pares,.EnvironmentCanadaParksServiceTRAD EMARKSONBASE-METALTABLEWARE.+.~t~ ,..,..'-TRADEMARKSONBASE-METALTABLEWAREL ate 18thcenturyto circa1900(includingmarksonBritanniametal ,iron,steel,copperalloysandsilver-plated goods)EILEENWOODHEADS tudies inArchaeology,ArchitectureandHistoryNati onalHistoricSitesParks ServiceEnvironmentCanada vailableinCanadathroughauthorizedbooksto re agentsandotherbookstores,orbymailfromthe CanadaCommunicationGroup,Publishing,Supp lyandServicesCanada,Ottawa,Ontario, theEnvironment,Ottawa,1991 Theopinionsexpressedin thisreportarethoseof theauthorand :SheilaAscroftDesktopProduction.

2 SuzanneRochetteCoverDesign:Rod WonTranslation:DepartmentoftheSecretaryo fStateParkspublishestheresultsof itsresearchinarchaeology,architecture, ,ParksService,En-vironmentCanada,1600 LiverpoolCourt,Ottawa,OntarioK1A :late 18thcenturytocirca1900(includingmarksonB ritanniametal,iron,steel,copperalloysand silver-platedgoods)(Studiesinarchaeology ,architectureandhistory,ISSN-0821-1027) cat. :Trademarksonbase-metaltablewarefrom thelate18thcenturyto ,"'" """WIll"'" "".,witfilii"'" ! ""filii""""" """""'"till"'"willwillwI"""..TABLEOFCONT ENTSINTRODUCTIONvAV ANT.

3 IxMODED'UTILISATIONDECEGUIDE..ixREFERENC ESxiREFERENCESxiINDEXTOLETTERS, ..329 Submittedforpublicationin1987byEileenWoo dhead,MaterialCultureResearch,ParksServi ce,EnvironmentCanada, ,DraftingUnit,ArchaeologicalResearchDivi sion,ParksService,EnvironmentCanada, ..'fill' '"..,""..""..,WIIWIll., "".. ""..'"..'"..filii"'" ,..--.,..,.. ,..,..INTRODUCTIONO vertbepastdecadetbeMetalUnitof tbeMaterialCultureSection,ArcbaeologyRes earcbDivision,CanadianParksService,hasma intaineda aselectionofmarksonfilethatrelateprimari lytotablewareitems,from the late used ontablewareandotbersmallbardwaregoodsmad e inbasemetalsinGreatBritain,Germany, basprovento beusefultoresearcbersandarcbaeologistsfo ridentifyingtbeoriginandtbe daterangeoftablewareandrelatedmetalartif actsfrom thecontinuouscontroltbathasbeenappliedto preciousmetals, metalindustrieswereinvolved.

4 Tbemanufactureofdomesticgoodsincludedtbe ferrousmetals,ironandsteel,tinalloys(inc ludingpewter),andcopperalloyssucb as andsilverwere used badlocalregistriesofmarkskeptbytradeorga nizations:tbeCutlers'CompanyofSbeffieldo r fac-tors, someinstancesthere wouldbavebeenmoretban onemanufacturer,as in tbecaseof manyknivesinwhichthebladeswere madeby onemanufacturer,tbebandIesbyanotherand yetvAVANT-PROPOSAu sein de laDirectiondesrecbercbesarcheo-logiquesd uServicecanadiendespares,leGroupemetalde laSectiondesrecherchessurlaculturemateri elles' occupe,depuisladernieredecennie,d'undoss ierdereferencessurlespoinconsestam-pille ssur decertainsde cespoinconsretrouvesessentiel-lementsur lavaisselle.

5 Entrela fin lavaisselleet autrespetitsarticlesdequincailleriefabri quesenmetauxnonprecieuxenGrande-Bretagne ,enAllemagne,enFranceet auxEtats-Unis. Cedossiera permisauxcbercbeursetarcheo-loguesduServ icecanadiendesparesdepreciserI' origineet laperiodedefabricationde ' objetsenmetauxnonprecieuxn' ajamaisfaitl'objetducontrolestrictauquel aetesoumislesecteurdesmetauxprecieux,mem edansle cas duplacaged' ladiversitedesmetauxutilisespourlafabric ationde lavaisselle,plusieursentreprisesdifferen tessontconcernees,cbacunepossedantsespro presmethodesdefabri-cationet ,le fer et I'acier,lesalliagesde ferblanc(ycomprisl'etain)

6 Et lesalliagesdecuivre,tels lelaitonetl' ferblancet I' 'articlesenmetalenAngleterreou onconservaitdesregistresdespoinconspropr esauxcorpsdemetierslocaux:laCutlers'Comp anyofSbeffieldou pe utyavoireuplusd'unfabricant;pourdenombre uxa thirdmanufacturermay knives mayalsohavehadits ownregisteredmark. In theearly19thcentury,beforetherewas a viablesteelindustryinAmerica,knifeblades were oftenimportedfromGreatBritain,but thehandlesweremade even theoriginof the item the late 19thcenturymanyAmericanretailerscommissi onedsuchproductsfromwell-knownmanufactur ers,butappliedtheirowntradenames,as they do to ,andothersuchmanufacturingcomplexities,w ere commonthroughouttheperiodconcerned,but the mark on the finalproductusuallyprovidessomeindicatio nof thesourceof ,such as handtoolsandtableware.

7 Were inexistencefor a longperiodof time, using the samemark by firms withestablishedreputationswereboughtby asuccessorwhocontinuedtheiruse , it mayappearthatthe same mark was used by more than onemanufactureruntilthedatesof the amarkhas been in use over aprolongedperiod,as it has in manyBritishfirms,thedatingof aparticularpiece may have to bedeterminedonstylisticgrounds,or on ananalysisofthemetalormetaltechnologyuse d in its basemetalswasimportedfromGreatBritain,Eu ropeor theUnitedStatesuntilthefinalyears of the done in a few of theseplants,much ofthe work was in thefinishingorplatingof itemsthatweremadein fewCanadiancompanies,whichmanufacturedst erlingsilvergoods,often made smallquantitiesofbasemetalitemsthat , les lames etantfabriqueespar une entre-prise et lesmanchespar une autre et la finition ou leplacage se faisant chez une troisieme.

8 Ledetaillantquivendait ces couteauxpouvaitegalementy apposer XIXesiecleavant quel'industriederacierne soit viable enAmerique, les lames de couteauxetaientsouventimporteesdeGrande- Bretagneet lesmanchesfabri-ques est doneparfoisdifficilededeterminerI' origined' fin du XIXesiecle,plusieursdetaillantsamericain scommandaientdesproduitsadesfabricantsbi en connus, puis yappliquaientleursproprespomcons,commece lasefaitencorede toutes ces com-plexites,frequentes au cours de laperiodeetudiee,lepoincon quiapparaitsur unarticledonnegenera-lement une bonneindicationde desentreprisesquifabriquaientdepetitsart iclesdequincaillerie,parexempledesoutils amain et de lavaisselle,etaientenactivitedepuislong temps etutilisaientle ou despoinconsutilisespar desentreprisesalareputationetablieaientc ontinued'etreutilises,memelorsquel'entre prisepassaitad' ilsembleque le memepomconpuisseavoireteutilisepar plusd'unfabricant.

9 Maisil suffitdecomparerlesperiodesd'activitedes deuxentreprisespourconstaterqu'ils nel'etaientjamaisen meme 'unpoincona eteutilisedurantuneperiodeprolongee,comm ec'estle casdansnombred'entreprisesbritanniques,l adatationd'unepiecedoitparfoisse faire enfonctiondescaracterisuquesstylistiques ,dumetalemploye,oude lavaisselleenmetauxnonprecieuxretrou-vee auCanadaaeteimporteede laGrande-Bretagne,del'Europeou desEtats-Unisjusqualatoute fin du desvillescan a-diennesaucoursdesannees1880. Bienqu'onaitpratiquela fonte et I'estampillagedansquelques-unes de cesusines,ellesservaientsurtoutala fini-tion et ,qui fabri-quaientdesarticlesenargentsterling ,produisaientsou vent aussi depetitesquantitesd' articlesenmetaux 'fIJ/JWIllwI' "'".

10 WIllwiI"'"""..'filii"" "'"'filiiwI""..fill'filiifill' "'"' 'filii"'"' '-Theexaminationofarchaeologicalmaterial andsourcedocumentssuch asretailers'recordsshowthatnearlyalltabl ewaregoods wereimportedfromGreatBritainuntil the 1870s. After the CivilWar,Americanmanufacturersbecamesucc essfulrivalsfor theCanadianmarket. During the 19thcentury,mostof thecommontablewaregoods weresoldthroughironmongersorhardwaremen, with thefinersilver-platedgoods to be found injewelryorwatchmakers' mail-orderhousessuppliedmany of these wares to theconsumertowardsthe end of often only a smallportionof thetotalproductionof many of thelargermanu-facturers,theentrieslisted in this work may alsoproveusefulinidentifyingmarks on other base-metalobjectssuch as edgetools,buildinghard-ware,householdute nsilsandtoiletryitems.