Earliest Documented Existence of Use of Sans Serif Font on Sheffield Maker's Stamps

[laEspadaAncha]

Hi Mark,

Sans serif doesn't just refer to block-type lettering (as opposed to cursive), but more specifically, to block-type lettering that is absent the little 'feet' you find at the end of each stroke on each character (called 'serifs').

In the image below, the word "ALPHA" appears in a serif font in the image below, while both the trademark on the left (with the heart & pistol) and the caption underneath are written in sans serif fonts:



With that in mind, what is the earliest example you have seen of an English knife that is stamped with a sans serif font?

Regards,

Chris

[spiral]

Excelent post Chris!

I obviously agree sans serif existed in print much earlier,probably any English libary will have reference books that include some sans serif before c.1870

My point is so far theres no reliable dated evidence of the use of sans serif on bladed weapons before that date. The examples you post in the other thread are highly dubius to say the least.

Mark serifs are the small curls or flats added to the tops & bottoms of some font.

Spiral

The examples listed by Chris. for further study. {Some hotlinked as originaly posted in the blunderbuss thread.}





Strangly {img} tags dont work on the ones actualy posted on viking sword, how does one link to those I wonder?

[laEspadaAncha]

Originally Posted by spiral

Excelent post Chris!

I obviously agree sans serif existed in print much earlier,probably any English libary will have reference books that include some sans serif before c.1870

My point is so far theres no reliable dated evidence of the use of sans serif on bladed weapons before that date.

Hi Jonathan,

Thank you for the complement and the encouragement, and thank you as well for attaching the images of the aforementioned Edward Barnes & Sons knives.

Before we revisit the three knives above - which I maintain are authentic - I would like to go ahead and nip this misconception in the bud, so to speak...

I have had the good fortunate to know several knife makers well-known in the knife maker & collector community, including someone who shaped custom blades for one of the better known American knife makers before setting out on his own several decades ago. Whenever I have a question about a vintage factory or custom knife, I turn to him.

However, in the world of antique blades, there are comparably few authorities one can turn to, but at the top of a very short list, two names come to mind: Levine and Flayderman. If is from the latter's treatise on the Bowie knife, titled simply, The Bowie Knife, that this next exmaple appears.

This knife, a 19th-century folder, is significant and relevant to this discussion for two reasons: First, the use of a sans serif font on the reverse of the blade. Second, the knife is made by George Woodhead.

George Woodhead was a Sheffield cutler who opened his shop in partnership with Hartley in 1841. And while he - and later his son - continued to produce knives for the American market through 1884, by 1849 he had bought out his partner and stamped all his knives "G. Woodhead," and from 1876 to 1884, "G. Woodhead & Son."

Fortunately, this progression of ownership and the marks employed during each stage allows us to define the window of time during which a marked example was made.

The ricasso on this knife is stamped, "Woodhead and Hartley," which definitively - and conclusively - dates this early folder to between 1841 and 1849.

Thus, it is self-evident that Sheffield cutlers were using a sans serif font well before the "accepted" time.

Now, given the plethora of Sheffield cutlers, if one cutler was known to use this font ca. 1850 - over 30 years after the first commercial sans serif dye stamp was produced by a foundry, it should be reasonable to expect we would find other makers (e.g., Edward Barnes & Sons) employing the use of the font as well.

But before we revisit the knives Spiral reposted above, I will demonstrate further evidence by presenting not one, but three other Sheffield makers (not inclusive of Edward Barnes) who similarly used sans serif fonts on their blades during the mid-19th century.

[laEspadaAncha]

This next example is a knife of fine quality that comes from the same collection as the first, and like the first, was published in the book The Bowie Knife, by Norm Flayderman.

He dates this particular knife to having been made between 1847 and 1849, presumably due to the etching on the reverse, which has an inscription commemorating the (U.S.) victory at the Battle of Buena Vista (by the early 1850s, Mexican-American War-themed inscriptions had been replaced by Gold Rush, abolitionist, and secessionist themes). Made by and marked to Sheffield cutler C. Barnes (relation to Edward Barnes unknown). Not only does the inscription appear in a sans serif font, but the ricasso is stamped with the maker's mark in which the last line "SHEFFIELD" is clearly stamped in a sans serif font as well:

[Jim McDougall]

Chris and Spiral thank you both so much for taking this intriguing topic out of the other thread, and placing it with its own. I must say I really like this constructive and team oriented move which is proving a valuable look into this otherwise subtle nuance of markings.

With the interesting perspective you have both shown, I am curious just how much variation might have been in place with both styles of font in contemporary use. It would seem that in many cases long established makers might have used older forms longer, and possibly more modern and industrialized style prevailed in those regions where this was more prevalent.

Also, I am wondering just how much metalworking stamps would follow the character of printed material, for example the use of the long or medial 'S' which looked like an 'f' in this context. Obviously the use of majescule letters would be presumed for stamping, while perhaps the cursive script so often used in markings in the 18th century would have favored the print characters. .. or did it?

Excellent topic guys!!!! Thank you again.

All the best,
Jim

[Billman]

Just looked through my images of edge tools from the UK (mainly billhooks) - the serif name stamps were still being used into the 20th century, especailly on tools made by small village makers. However most large industrial makers (e.g. Brades or Elwell) had been using non-serif stamps from the late 19th century. Cutlers, however, used much smaller stamps than edge tool makers, and the serif would a) be very small and b) easily damaged, so it would make sense to use non-serif lettering for small stamps...