# Thos Ibbotson Company



## [email protected] (7 Sep 2013)

I just purchased a set of 24 carving chisels in an oak box made by the Thos Ibbotson Co. Can anyone direct me to where I can get information on this company and the carving chisel sets they produced? It appears to be all complete and original. It was purchased in Europe many years ago and I obtained it at an estate sale here in Florida. I have no idea as to worth and any info or help you can lend would be appreciated.


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## tobytools (7 Sep 2013)

hi, Thos Ibbotson and Co was established in 1814 as a manufacturer of Joiners' 
tools. Edge tools were added to the product range in 1855. The full range 
encompassed joiners' tools, saws, files, engineers' and machinists' tools, 
hammers, garden tools, tool chests and skates.
are the handles hexagonal on the chisels you have? can you post a pic? are they for sale?
Wm Marples and Co took over Thos Ibbotson and Sons in 1905.
(in W.L.GOODMAN british planemakers from 1700 say that Ibbotson, Thomas & co "20 Paternoster Row, ran from 1833-1909)
you might have to troll the internet for a while to get the information you require 
with the chisels in question i cant find anything, if you ask Andy T nicely he might have a catalogue or some reference about them..

what i can tell you is that buy the sounds of things you have a very good set of chisels there and i bet they will be a pleasure to use. quality steel and thoughtfully engineered tools.

hope this helped.
TThttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globe_Works
http://www.wkfinetools.com/huk/Ibbotson ... -index.asp

(please not that the date are taken from sources of internet and from book of various dates) 
.on a few sites and web pages they vary.

TT


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## [email protected] (10 Sep 2013)

Thanks for the info TT. I will post pictures of the set as soon as i can figure out how to do it.

I do not want to sell the set as I plan to put it to good use while preserving them for future owners (after I am expired).

Thanks again,
MP

TT,
I can't figure out how to add photos to a post. Can you help me out with some instructions on same?

MP


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## marcros (10 Sep 2013)

There is a sticky at the top of the forum I think. You may need to resize them to fit- I find the easiest way to do this is to email them to myself from my iPhone. There is various other software out there though.


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## tobytools (10 Sep 2013)

[email protected]":3puvlz1d said:


> Thanks for the info TT. I will post pictures of the set as soon as i can figure out how to do it.
> 
> I do not want to sell the set as I plan to put it to good use while preserving them for future owners (after I am expired).
> 
> ...



Hi, just google how to do it, but I email to self also and uploads and minimise pic and save as a JPG. It's not that tricky but first time can be frustrating. Let me know how you get on, If you still struggle ill message a step by step for you thanks
TT


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## [email protected] (11 Sep 2013)

Hi TT,
I took some photos of the carving set and e-mailed them to myself so I am ready to upload to this forum. What I don't see anywhere is a method of getting them posted here. I don't see any icon at the top of this page that allows photos to be attached. I'm looking for some direction and hope you can help. I do appreciate your taking the time to help a newbie navigate the intricacies of this forum.
Thanks,
MP


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## marcros (11 Sep 2013)

Click on the full editor button, next to the submit button on quick reply. The attach icons are about half way down on that page. You upload a file, then place it into the post.


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## [email protected] (11 Sep 2013)

Macros,
Thank you so very much for the info. I have, I hope, attached the four pictures of the carving set to this post. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I did it right and you can see them.

Thanks again,
MP


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## marcros (11 Sep 2013)

seems to have worked. nice set, cant believe that there are many similar in the USA!


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## [email protected] (11 Sep 2013)

Thanks. These were purchased somewhere in UK many years ago by a man named Patterson and brought them back to the US. He recently passed away here in Florida and I was lucky enough to buy them at his estate sale. I'm trying to find out any info that I can as to maybe when they were made, were there many "Twenty-four carving chisel boxed sets" made, and what some idea of a current market value would be. I paid $400.00 U.S. for them. I have never seen a boxed set like this before and probably will never see another one like it in my lifetime. It really doesn't matter as to wether I got a good deal or not. I like them and they will probably end up in my estate sale. After they have been well used, I hope.
Mike Parker


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## marcros (11 Sep 2013)

i am sure that you are in the right place to find some info.

As for value, I personally have no idea, but at less than $20 each, I would be happy with that. Something new of similar quality would set you back far more.


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## tobytools (11 Sep 2013)

nice chisels, in good shape to, i would imagine they where made in sheffield as for date i reckon they where produced later on in his career, but thats a guess. you might be able to date it by the blue and white plaque in the top left hand corner, i cant seem to zoom on your pics other wise i would help out, different type and how the stamp was make could narrow the search for date down maybe!. either way, your lucky to have those, i would swap my addis chisels for those.
good luck in your search and ill keep an eye on thread as im interested to.
i dunno if you could contact David Stanley auctions and they might be able to help you, give it a try or they will lead you in the direction you require, 

carve something nice in memory for the previous fellow 

TT


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## [email protected] (12 Sep 2013)

Close up of the label on the box.


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## mseries (12 Sep 2013)

tobytools":leg21q39 said:


> ...
> 
> you might have to troll the internet for a while to get the information you require ...




trawl, not troll. We don't want trolls here. :wink:


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## Cheshirechappie (12 Sep 2013)

Boxed sets of vintage carving chisels are very unusual, though there are a lot of individual tools about. I don't know how this translates to US prices, but Ebay UK have a fairly steady flow of vintage carving tools, which fetch between £10 and £30 or more each for good examples by sought-after makers (Addis and Herring probably the most desired). There were several other Sheffield makers, and Ibbotson comes up quite frequently among joiners' and cabinetmakers' bench chisels and plane irons. They are a well regarded maker - good steel, nicely finished.

Some Sheffield makers had a sort of 'sideline' to their main business of making tradesmen's tools by offering what were often called 'gentlemen's tools'. Intended for well-heeled amateurs, the tools were of regular tradesmen's quality (i.e. the best), but often with handles of fancy woods and similar embellishments. I suspect that your boxed set is such a specimen - tradesmen would rarely buy sets, usually individual tools and often unhandled. Many professional carvers preferred to fit their own handles, often different ones for different tools to help fast identification among the chippings on the bench.

There was a bit of a habit among the larger firms to continue to use the trademarks of smaller concers that they had absorbed; Marples certainly did this with several companies. Dating tools exactly is therefore not easy, but the style of font on the box label suggests very late 19th century or early 20th, which fits with the dates Tobytools stated earlier in the thread.

It's a lovely set, very unusual and of good quality. May you have many happy years of use from them!


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## [email protected] (12 Sep 2013)

Cheshirechappie,

My thanks to you and the others who have responded to my inquiry. You have all made me very content with my purchase. I had thought I was looking at something very special that I would never see again and your comments only reinforce that belief.
I will continue to try to narrow down just when these were made and will post any results I come across.

Thanks again to all of you.

Mike Parker


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## AndyT (13 Sep 2013)

There's some good info there from Toby and CC and I can't really add very much. Although the company of Ibbotsons was indeed absorbed into Marples in 1909 that does not mean that the name disappeared, quite the opposite. Marples kept several names going from companies that they had taken over - just as happens now. I recently scanned and made available a 1938 Marples catalogue which shows that they were still using the Ibbotson name then, to mark tools of "1st Quality":






So it's really difficult to date your tools by name alone.

As Cheshire Chappie said, many tool dealers offered sets of carving tools at several price points. This is from a catalogue of George Adams in London, around 1912:






And this is from another London Dealer, Richard Melhuish, around 1925:






(You'll notice that many catalogue illustrations were made once and then used by different suppliers - most of the apparent difference here is, I think, down to different quality scanning.)

I think it is worth noticing that these sets were expensive, especially in your example, where they seem to be professional tools, not the somewhat shorter and lighter tools sold as Ladies' or Amateurs' tools. You've got a very nice set of tools there!


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## [email protected] (13 Sep 2013)

Andy,
I appreciate the quick response and the good info. I'm going to e-mail Marples to see if they can shed any more light. If you can think of any other threads I can follow up on please let me know.

I've attached a close-up of the little hand auger that was with the set. Don't know if it was part of the set or added later. No markings but it sure is neat.

Thanks again,
Mike Parker


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