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Another advertisment from George Richmond Collis & Co., following the takeover of Thomason's business, this time from 1837.
Interesting to note that as well as taking over the company, Collis also took over Thomason's role of Vice-Consul to several countries and was also the issuer of passports to France.
Great to think that you could buy your travelling requisites and get your passport, all at this one-stop shop.
The Birmingham Assay Office has the oval mark as first entered on the 16th August 1820 and a similar one, I guess of a different size, entered on the 11th August 1821. Thomason had previously entered the retangular, with clipped corners, mark that appears to be the one used on flatware, on the 20th September 1815.
The bottom image is the most intriguing as it looks as if it was taken perhaps from an assay office plate. I wonder what the two clipped marks to the left represent?
Hello All,
STOP PRESS!!
Edward Thomason's earlier mark has been discovered on the Birmingham Assay Office web site lurking under "T & C" inside an oval. It was registered on 12/11/1806 and is thought to represent Thomason & Co.
This seemingly long lost mark can be inspected by members of the public by visiting http://theassayoffice.co.uk/esh" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Regards,
Mike
.
Hello Trev,
Thomas Thomason appears to have been born in Birmingham in 1813. He's on the UK 1861 Census and said he was an "Ecclesiastical Furniture Maker in Silver, Brass and Iron". The Birmingham AO web site doesn't record a mark for him prior to 1858 (as you know the last year for which data has so far been published by that office) but I have come across a Birmingham mark registered in 1893 for T Thomason & Co. Thomas doesn't appear on the UK census after 1861 so it isn't clear whether that mark has anything to do with him directly.
Sir Edward Thomason's entry in the 1842 Census doesn't show a Thomas living with him. The national registration of Births etc didn't start until 1837 so the only source of information as to who Thomas' father was would have to come from the parish records and I haven't had any success in finding detail of this on the internet.
The fact that both Thomasons were active in the Birmingham silver business could be more than coincidence but at the moment tying one to the other in a family isn't possible.
An extra fact did crop up in this research which I don't think we knew before and that is that Sir Edward was 65 years old in 1841 so born around 1776.
Regards,
Mike
.
Many thanks for posting the great results of your research.
So, it looks like ET started up his factory at the age of just seventeen, amazing, but when you realise how astute the fellow was, well, maybe it's no surprise.
I am writing a book on Sovereign balances and the Crown stamps found on them. I have two rockers that are possibly by Sir Edward Thomason? I need some help from Hallmark and stamp experts as the rockers have no form of identification other than the Crown stamps and in one case an incuse field "ET" stamp.
The first balance has a Crowned VR stamp with "ROYAL STANDARD" around. The Crowned VR is similar to that found on Thomason silver and plate?
The second balance has an incuse field "ET" stamp similar to that registered by Thomason at the Birmingham Assay office. Incuse field stamps are very rare on brass Sovereign Balances
The Crown stamp is similar to another unknown makers crown stamp.
Both balances are currently the only known examples. Is it possible either of these could be by Thomason?
The Crowned VR most likely means after 1837 when Victoria came to the throne so is it possible that the Crowned VR balance is by George Richmond Collis & Co. who bought Thomason's Colmore Row and Church St. manufactories in 1835?
Well, I think we can discount the first one as Thomason sold his business in 1835, two years before Queen Victioria came to the throne.
The second one seems a more likely candidate and it just the sort of thing I could imagine Thomason manufacturing, although I have no knowledge that he did. I suppose the key may lie in the impression of the crown, if it is an official one, then it does resemble, from memory, the Victorian version. If so, then Thomason has to discounted again as the new owners of his business, George Richmond Collis & Co, were always keen to put their name before that of Thomasons.
I think it also has to be remembered that in Birmingham alone, there were thousands of small outfits working in the metalware industry, your quest may prove very difficult.
My apologises if my thoughts appear rather negitive, hopefully someone can add something more positive. Either way, good luck with your book and please keep us posted with the news of your research.
On the first rocker is the Crowned VR close to the Collis crown stamps used on silverware knifes? Are there any other examples of a Crowned VR stamps that you know of?
The crown on the "ET" stamped rocker is very similar to the crown stamp of another unknown sovereign rocker maker. I have documented 41 crown stamps used by Sovereign rocker makers and shown that 32 of them are the brand marks of known/named manufactories, foundries or workshops with known dates of operation, one of the topics of my book.
The crowns on these two rockers have not been linked to makers with sufficient proof, yet. Hence my inquiries.
I have a record from a Pigot Commercial Directory of 1837 on Sir Edward Thomson & Co., on Church St., Birmingham, under Jewellers - manufacturing. This is a few years after Collis, George Richard & Co. (Late Sir Edward Thomason), 28 Church St., Birmingham, who are also listed on the same page of the Directory, had taken over. So Collis must have used the Thomason name for a few years after the purchase?
Not sure if this is the sort of thing you're looking for.
This one is from a Georgian knife blade:
And this one from a Victorian ink well (no maker):
The entry in Pigot's is certainly interesting, although he sold his company to GRC in 1835, his memoirs state that he retired from business in 1844. Perhaps you've found some information on the missing nine years?
I presume you're refering to official marks for weights and measures, which are indeed very similar. I believe, however, in the case of the two I've shown, that the mark on the steel knife blade, may refer to it either being supplied for a government order or merely that the maker was a government supplier. In the case of second mark, which is on a pewter ink well, as it bears no maker's name or mark, is more likely to be part of an order from the government.
At the end of the day, I doubt there was little or none in the way of regulation on the use of such marks that may have been applied by makers as a marketing ploy at that time, but I stand to be corrected if anyone knows something more concrete.
Your view on the importance of the Crown stamp as only a marketing ploy of the time was the original view of the experts and historians on the crown stamps found on Sovereign rocker balances made in the 19th century.
However, as I have documented in my forthcoming book, the Crown stamps are unique and can be linked to known manufactories, workshops, foundries and businesses as the brand marks that they used to identify that they made/manufactured the product even when their 'Name' was not used anywhere on the product. This was often the case with Sovereign rocker balances as the retailer usually wanted their name on the rocker and/or its box.
If the Crown stamp was used to identify the maker/manufacturer for brass Sovereign rockers at the time, it may have been used elsewhere for other products? The majority of Sovereign rockers were made from 1820-1870.
Obituary as taken from the 'Gentleman's Magazine' - 1849
Sir Edward Thomason.
May 29. At his residence in Jury Street, Warwick, in his 80th year, Sir Edward Thomason, Knt. late of Birmingham.
Sir Edward Thomason was born at Birmingham in the year 1770. His father was a manufacturer of buckles, an article then in great demand, and owned extensive premises in Colmore-row, St. Philip's Square. His son was at the age of sixteen articled for five years to the celebrated house of Boulton at Soho. Meanwhile the elder Thomason who was upwards of sixty retired from business, but retained his factory for the future use of his son. The latter began his manufactories in the year 1793, establishing the trade of gilt and plated buttons, of the finest quality : to which he added, first, gilt and gold jewellery ; then, a department for making medals, tokens, and coins of gold, silver, bronze, etc. to which he added works in bronze, and fine cut glass ; lastly, be launched forth into the manufacture of gold and silver plate, and plated works of the best workmanship, all of which trades occupied, including about twelve showrooms, an amount of from 60 to 70 rooms. This business he carried on, with increasing prosperity, for more than forty years, until the year 1835, when he disposed of it to Messrs. Whitgrave and Collis.
Mr. Thomason joined the Philosophical Society of Birmingham at its first formation in the year 1800 ; and from time to time he delivered there several lectures on mineralogy, one of which, chiefly on the diamond, is included in his " Memoirs."
This work was published in 1845 in two volumes under the title of " Sir Edward Thomason's Memoirs during Half a Century." It is a book of peculiar character, being profusely decorated with prints of his various inventions and works of art, and of the presents, jewels and decorations presented to him by foreign sovereigns, &c. and the letterpress consists in great measure of the letters be received from distinguished persons, all of whose autograph signatures are engraved in facsimile. Some account of the contents of this work, and of the inventions patented by the author in the early stages of his career, will be found in our Magazine for April 1846. This reference will spare us from entering more fully into his productions ; for, after all, they are now for the most part superseded or surpassed by more recent works in arts-manufacture. The most enduring were a great variety of medals, honorary, commemorative, and historical, concluding with a series of sixty on scripture history, from pictures by the old masters ; and perhaps his most memorable work of any was a copy in bronze, of the size of the original, of the fine antique vase at Warwick Castle. We are not aware that there was more than one cast of this; it remained for many years in Sir E. Thomason's showrooms, and is the same (we presume) which now stands on the steps leading to the east terrace of Windsor Castle. The Portland Vase he copied in silver.
The visits paid to Birmingham by distinguished foreigners after the peace seem to have excited Mr. Thomason's ambition for personal distinction beyond his legitimate fame as a manufacturer. The Duchess of Oldenburgh asked whether there was a Russian Consul in Birmingham. Mr. Thomason answered, No, but that he should be gratified by the appointment. Though it was not usual to appoint Consuls for inland towns, this favour was conferred upon him in May 1815, when he was made Russian Vice-Consul. In March 1816 he received the like appointment from Louis XVIII. from the Emperor of Austria, and from the Prince Regent of Portugal and the Brazils ; in April he was also appointed Vice-Consul for Sweden and Norway ; and in November Vice-Consul for Prussia. He was also made Vice-Consul for Spain.
In 1822 Mr. Thomason received a diamond brooch from the Emperor of Russia, in acknowledgment for his series of medals from the Elgin marbles ; the next year a gold medal of merit from the King of Prussia, for the same work ; in 1830 the King of Naples honoured him with the cross and decoration of the order of Francis I. of Merit; from Austria he received a medal of merit; from the King of Prussia a brilliant ring ; and from Charles XIV. of Sweden a gold snuff-box; in 1831 a brilliant ring from Frederick VI. King of Denmark ; in the same year from the King of the Netherlands the order of the Lion for civil merit; a silver gilt cup from the Emperor Nicholas ; a French clock and two candelabras from King Louis Philippe; the order of the Red Eagle of Prussia, fourth class ; in 1833, from Spain the cross of the order of Isabel the Catholic ; from Persia the order of the Lion and Sun ; from the Sultan Mahmoud II. a gold enamelled snuff-box, set with brilliants ; from Pope Gregory XIV. a pietra dura mosaic found in a villa near Rome ; from Queen Adelaide a medal of William IV. struck by her command ; from Ferdinand II. King of Naples the " Real Museo Borbonico " in 9 vols, folio, and the Constantian order of St. George; in 1834, from the King of Sardinia the order of St. Maurice and Lazarus; from General Jackson, President of the United States, his own portrait, painted by R. E. W. Earl ; in 1835, from the King of Portugal the cross of the order of Christ; from the King of the Belgians the cross of the order of the Leopard ; and in in 1836, from the Emperor Nicholas a splendid diamond ring, on his resignation of the appointment of Russian Vice-Consul. All these, and other presents which he received from private individuals, are represented in his book. He also received from Charles X. of France a series of 1037 medals, being the whole of those executed by the Royal mint of Paris ; and a series of 446 from the Emperor Nicholas; and from J. P. Boyer, President of Hayti 3,000lbs. weight of his best coffee.
In confirmation, as it were, of his other distinctions, Sir Edward Thomason received the honour of knighthood from King William IV. in 1832, and in 1838 the King of Hanover gave him the decoration of the Royal Guelphic order. His portrait (wearing all his orders) is prefixed to his Memoirs, engraved by C. Freeman.
He married Phillis-Bown, daughter of Samuel Glover, esq. of Abercarne, co. Monmouth. His son, Henry-Botfield, died on the 12th July, 1843, aged forty-one.
