stamping your name on tools remained common in the states until 1. Certain tools began to be made as disposable (cheap hardpoint unsharpenable saws) and 2. The advent of opinion of forums of handtools as investments.Mr. Bell may not have made it, Argus, that was just a plausible suggestion. Whoever made it knew his way round both metalwork & woodwork, I reckon, both appear to be of a very high standard, so a patternmaker would be my first suspect. It may have been a mate of J. Bell who made it for him, without a lot of searching & a lot of luck, I suspect we'll never know. A lot of very well-made one-off tools have been shown in books & forums over the years & in most cases there is no maker's name to be found on them so unless there is a history of possession, they remain anonymous. I reckon whoever made it should have put his name on it, it's very nicely done & something to be proud of....
OTH, stamping your name on your own tools as the owner was very common a hundred years ago - they cost a goodly proportion of your wages to replace so you didn't want them disappearing into someone else's kit!
Cheers,
Since you're in Ceredigion I thought you already had.When he'd finished reinventing routers, Mr Bell joined his brother, Alexander, in the 'phone business........
....I'll get my coat.
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