18th century axe?

[jimvt]

Hello!
I bought this axe in Maine from an older coupler who have an antique shop. The husband believed it to be 18th century but could not verify. Regardless of the age, I’m content with the purchase but I thought I’d reach out to you experts to get an opinion.
thank you for any knowledge you can share.

https://imgur.com/a/c6JGGQ6

 

[Yankee Josh]

Hello!
I bought this axe in Maine from an older coupler who have an antique shop. The husband believed it to be 18th century but could not verify. Regardless of the age, I’m content with the purchase but I thought I’d reach out to you experts to get an opinion.
thank you for any knowledge you can share.

https://imgur.com/a/c6JGGQ6

Tried taking a look but the photo is in a hidden folder. Can you reshare it after making it public?

 

[Hickory n steel]

I can see the pictures, but can't make out the markings.
They're fairly clear, but could use a quick scrubbing with some wd40 and steel wool.

It has a very clearly forge welded construction and certainly looks like it could be an 18th century trade axe from France, but then it could also probably be something from the 19th century that came here with an immigrant.
The markings will have to be identified.

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

Definitely looks French and I would guess at it being 19th Century due to the stylizing of the (illegible) markings and overall tooling marks. More photos would be helpful, especially after taking a hand wire brush to the mark to clean crud out of it.

 

[Hatchet_Jack]

It’s an interesting one.

18th century trade axes on the French side were called Biscayne axes. They’re pretty distinctive, that one doesn’t look like a Biscayne but the stamp is very similar to what was used.