Dug this Trade Axe, need some help with touchmark

[Grant6165]

I dug this trade axe last weekend at a 1730s colonial militia site in New England. Did electrolysis on it and mounted it on a new haft, very pleased with the results.

Can anyone identify the heart shaped touchmark on the blade?

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[Square_peg]

Cool piece. Belongs in a museum.

I would contact a local historical society or university for more info.

 

[Steve Tall]

Perhaps made in England around the early-to-mid- 18th century, based on the following information.

A similar mark is shown on a full-sized axe ("marked on one side with a heart-shaped symbol") in Figure 55 on page 139 of this book:
Captain Jones's Wormslow: A Historical, Archaeological, and Architectural Study of an Eighteenth-Century Plantation Site Near Savannah, Georgia, by William M. Kelso, 2008
"Historical records indicated that the ruins were the remains of Fort Wimberly, most likely constructed by Noble Jones, an original [English] settler of Georgia. Records further suggested that Fort Wimberly had been constructed on the site of Jones's earlier fortification, a timber guardhouse known as Jones's Fort, built in 1739 and 1740."

A mention of a trade axe with a heart design, presumed to be from England, appears in The Bulletin of the Fort Ticonderoga Museum, Volume 9, page 175, Fort Ticonderoga [NY] Museum, 1952

The site http://www.furtradetomahawks.com/more-trade-axes---10.html describes a trade axe with a heart on one side, and "W. MATHER" stamped on the other side. The maker was presumed to be William Mather, who apprenticed in Sheffield in 1727 and was accepting his own apprentices by 1739. A large felling axe with the same markings was also described on this page, but no photos of the heart stamps were shown. The creator of that site could be contacted for more information about the heart stamps.

An old listing for an auction shows a "transitional form relic felling/trade axe with heart stamp" (the smaller axe with a handle), dated as "ca. 1730-60".

Interesting that this stamp is also shown for this listing:

which looks like a upside-down match for the W. MATHER stamp on the trade axe shown at FurTradeTomahawks.com

 

[Grant6165]

Thanks for those resources, I had not found the Kelso study before and found that particularly useful.

 

[HARDBALL]

Wow! What a SUPER find! Pray tell, which State in N.E. did you find such an awesome Tomahawk ?

HARDBALL

 

[Remzy]

museum piece indeed... id donate it to one if it was mine, or at least never touch it and write it on my testament to be sent to a museum upon my death

 

[Grant6165]

Wow! What a SUPER find! Pray tell, which State in N.E. did you find such an awesome Tomahawk ?

HARDBALL

I found it in Massachusetts. Regarding the museum donation, most museum donations are never seen by the public. Many are later sold by museums back into private collections. Likely more people have already seen and held this axe than would ever have if it went to your average museum. Something I learned while working in the museum field.

 

[Hacked]

It occurred to me that I've seen a number of current production trade axes or what we call tomahawks with a heart shaped punched through the axe in a similar location.

I did a little digging and came up with this post from a while back.

Not a lot of additional details but still a starting point. Also I'd say keep it, not sure I would put it to use but I like what you've done with it at this point.

Some more interesting tails and speculation in this thread on another forum. There is a link in the third post giving the name of the original person who claimed the Scottish origin.

 

[300Six]

I found it in Massachusetts. Regarding the museum donation, most museum donations are never seen by the public. Many are later sold by museums back into private collections. Likely more people have already seen and held this axe than would ever have if it went to your average museum. Something I learned while working in the museum field.

It's easy to become cynical about museum donations (up here you're eligible for a charitable tax receipt) but it is true that pieces of minor interest to the curator or the collection theme/philosophy get traded about or sold off to obtain stuff that they're more interested in or is more relevant.
Had Ben Franklin or L. da Vinci been affiliated with that implement then all of a sudden everyone would have clamoured to get their fingers in the pie.

 

[RICKOFF]

Hacked, Thanks for digging up that old post great history lesson.

Grant great find and good job on the haft and cleaning, keep it because you'll never find another.

 

[Sidehill Gouger]

I found it in Massachusetts. Regarding the museum donation, most museum donations are never seen by the public. Many are later sold by museums back into private collections. Likely more people have already seen and held this axe than would ever have if it went to your average museum. Something I learned while working in the museum field.

Totally agree. You also run into various P.C. versions of either the public shouldn't see weapons or around here, its a "Native American religious/cultural item" and given to them for hiding. A very fine double pointed steel (as in European trade) Northwest Indian knife disappeared out of the Seattle Art museum for this last reason.

 

[rover]

That is an amazing find. Makes me want to go out and buy a metal detector and a plane ticket to New England.