Fork manufacturing

[Granmaa]

I have three forks which were made in Newcastle in 1827. On two of them there is a little lump in exactly the same place; it is not present on the other. I'd be interested to know what error produced this.

Miles


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[dognose]

Hi Miles,
Are the forks engraved?, if so then possibly this is where the engraver clamped the fork, the mark seems to have caused by a turning action, of course the screw part of the clamp would have had a protective cushion but perhaps this became detached on these two and the engraver had not noticed, just a possibility,
Regards Trev.
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[Granmaa]

They are engraved on the back Trev, but they aren't holes: they protrude beyond the surface of the metal.

Miles
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[admin]

Hi Miles,
A small pit in the die would have this effect. Of course, if all three were made with the same die, all three would have it. Perhaps these two did not have proper finishing work applied.

Regards, Tom
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[paulh]

I would agree. THere seems to be an imperfection in the die that was used to apply the pip to the end of the fork. It would be interesting to locate other examples by this maker to see if they were similarly marked.

Paul
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