Help ID AXE HEAD

J

Jackson01

Joined
Feb 11, 2018
Messages
7
This axe head was purchased at a market in a Mexican fishing village on the pacific coast.
The man I got it from said it was 70 years old .
It had no handle and other than surface patina in very good shape .
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Its a massive #4 pound head with a round pole.
I thought it may be an ox head but their logo does not look the same , maybe an early version ??
 
There are members that know what you have there for sure.
You will get some answers at least a direction to look.
Perhaps you could take and post more pictures from different angles and points of view, showing The eye, the pole, the flip side, closer clearer makers mark.

Excellent find!
 
I can tell you that it is a trade axe, but as for the markings, I don't have a clue.
 
Jackson01,
It's an axe of a pattern known as Biscayne,and was probably manufactured and exported by one of the European manufacturers.
Possibly German.
It still goes on today,here's an example:http://www.world-of-axes.com/produktbilder/167_r.jpg

If interested you could also read more about it here:https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/origin-of-axes-styles.1359679/
And also other thread around this forum,there's quite a bit.
Sorry,i'm not familiar with that specific maker's mark,off the cuff looks German to me.
 
It's got that German look doesn't it from the side, the catchment for a handle just as they like it so much in Latin American parts - probably some Iberian influence there behind all that. The forging looks beter than average if you sak me about it and This is for sure, CH inside a circle like that sometimes means Switzerland, oddly enough.
 
Please define trade axe .

I initialy thought it was a "steer " or "bull " head, then heard of the OX head German axes
built by Ochsenkopf.
The CH inside an O made sense at that point but have not been able to find any early makers marks for this brand.
I am currently working on a 36 " handle to fit it as any handles available to me do not fit this beast :)
 
You could use google, but as you didn't I will do my best to "define" it. "Trade axes" as they're called were originally made for trading with indians in the US and Canada. Think Hudson Bay Co, Lewis and Clark, etc. They had slip fit handles because those were easier to make if you're in the middle of nowhere in the middle of unexplored territory. Later on that style was made to be sold in South America, where the same style is still made today. It is still sold in the/on Amazon.:D https://www.amazon.com/RINALDI-Forged-Forest-Felling-310G1500M/dp/B00VHKUK84 You can see a Collins version of yours in The Collins Manufacturing Thread on this illustrious website.
 
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