Glasgow problem: who is JF?

fatso · Post by **fatso** » Tue May 20, 2008 8:45 pm

This pretty Glasgow 1917 set came out from under the hand of some Master silversmith and I am justly proud of it as it was no slouch who has made it.
However, upon consulting Glasgow silversmiths pages online I can trace that the one, initials JF, did exist and made tea sets, inter alia. But no name is given! Who was it?
Any help gratefully received.
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MCB · Post by **MCB** » Wed May 21, 2008 11:59 am

Jackson's (2002 Edition page 576) shows a Glasgow maker's mark like the one on your tea set. The mark was first used some time prior to 1903 by Jas. Forrest but Jackson's gives no further detail.

Could he be your man?
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fatso · Post by **fatso** » Wed May 21, 2008 1:11 pm

Many thanks for your reply, MCB. I have noted quite a few gaps
in the roll of silversmiths of Glasgow and I do wonder, why?
Generally, up to now I did not pay much attention to who has been
the maker of my 2 1/2 dozen of tea sets or so.
Now I do and yesterday only I have discovered that one particularly handsome vintage set, does carry the hallmark
of the highly regarded british maker, Richard Comyns.
Who knows what will I discover in other, less frequently visited display cabinets?
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MCB · Post by **MCB** » Wed May 21, 2008 2:17 pm

I was reading Jackson's on Glasgow to see if there was anything to explain the gaps in the information published and find he was given access to a copper plate containing impressions of maker's marks for which the assay office had names but no record of the date the mark was registered. No surprise then that there is a general shortage of detail from this office!

I'm sorry to say that a second look at all this has also turned up another stamp very much like the one on your tea set, this one from John A Fetter. It never rains but it pours!
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