Quote:
Originally Posted by fernando
Well, all those considerations sound familiar Jim but, nothing in them deny that spurious smiths names are much more abundant than spurious punzones de espadero ... by far  .
Yours humbly ! |
I would imagine they would be most familiar to you considering how long you have studied, but mostly I wanted to detail them here for readers who may be following this line of research. Naturally these details cannot establish which instance may be more common, the use of names or the use of punzones.
I might suggest that in the 'legal' or regulatory aspects of the registration of marks/punzones there were consequences for using the mark of someone else while such wording in statutes did not include the use of names, phrases etc.
I would not try to assert that spurious use of either was more common one over the other, but perhaps this aspect might have had some bearing.
Interestingly, in Solingen, despite the spurious use of foreign markings, German makers went through considerable legal process to purchase use of marks of another maker. In England, the London Cutlers company has detailed records of permissions and grants for marks used by various makers, and forbad the unauthorized use of the mark of another.
I recall reading some time ago that English makers did not like to put their names on their blades as they thought it pretentious, but with the entry of German smiths into the Hounslow shops in the early 17th c. that changed.
With Toledo in demise, for a time in the 17th c. a number of German smiths from Solingen worked there and changed the character of their names being inscribed on their blades, Heinrick Koll for example became Enrique Coll.
I would point out here as well that most makers had more than one mark or punzone, and in the case of families, certain variations or entirely different stamps were used. In certain cases, in Toledo, there were also certain marks which were indicators of the status of espadero del Rey, where tax exemptions were involved. The famed 'man in the moon' crescent seems to have been one of these augmentations. These of course also had certain magic and talismanic properties so it is difficult to specifically identify their use.
Basically, whether marks or names used spuriously on blades had more instance one over the other is anybody's guess, and as always the blade being examined must be judged on its overall merits and clues.