Help with identifying an old dovetail saw

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finnberg

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I recently found a dovetail saw, which is badly beaten. The handle is partially damaged, the saw nuts are missing and the saw plate is so beaten that the tooth line is just a continuous wave. I have a feeling the saw plate is beyond restoration.

What was very interesting about this saw is that it was made for the Finnish department store Stockmann in the centre of Helsinki. To this day the department store remains one of the largest in Scandinavia. So it doesn't quite surprise me that they purchased hand tools displaying their own name. Still I'd like to know who the maker was.

So I have uploaded a bunch of pictures, hoping that someone in this forum would be able to identify the maker and rough era:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/finnberg6 ... 792598705/

The etch is based on the "Dieu et mon Droit" coat of arms, with the name of the company at the top and the city written in Swedish at the bottom. Since Finland was once a part of Sweden and Swedish was a dominant language some time after, I would think that the saw could have been made sometime in the earlier parts of the 20th century.
If the name on the plate follows the development of the Stockmann company, then records show that Georg Franz Stockmann ( a operated as G.F. Stockmann from 1860-1902, wherafter the company name was prolongued to G.F. Stockmann Aktiebolag (which stands for Ltd). But I also think that such a long name would have been unpractical and unaesthetic in an etch.
 
I cannot help you with the maker of the backsaw, but I must say the coat of arms etching on the blade is very impressive.

Stewie;
 
I can't help with a real ID either, but it's entirely possible that your saw was made in Sheffield.

Have a look at this article by saw historian Simon Barley

http://www.wkfinetools.com/huk/z-ukreading/acidEtching_Saws/acidEtching-Simon1.asp

where he shows that the practice of marking saws with a retailer's name goes back a long way. He also gives evidence that Sheffield makers were buying acid etch transfers bearing names of foreign manufacturers to use on Sheffield-made saws. He writes that:

"...Bagshaws made transfers for Sheffield firms who were evidently making saws for prominent French manufacturers such as Peugeot, and even in one case for a firm in the German rival saw-making town of Remscheid..."
 
Hi Andy
Yes, I had seen that story before. Etches are fascinating. I have a great affection for those special etches on the Warranted, hardware and retailer saws.
The thing about my saw is that I think I have previously seen that same coat of arms on a saw plate. This doesn't have to mean a thing as it was commonly used.
 
Not sure if this will help anyone with any kind of identification. But I found another saw with similar features and another custom etch.

This time it was a 12 inch tenon saw with beech handle, split nuts and an etch using the same kind of typography.

Pictures and more information here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/finnberg6 ... 804195270/

The handle on the tenon saw does have some similarities with older Tyzack & Turners, but the handle is clearly slimmer. The back is steel, just as on the Stockmann dovetail saw. I have a feeling both saws could have been made by the same company.
 

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