GGs--
Yesterday SWMBO and I hit the Hillsborough Antique Show at the San
Mateo County fairgrounds. Hundreds of dealers, acres of glass and fabric
and ceramics, and quite a bit of furniture, including some old pieces some
nice pieces, and even some nice old pieces. A couple of observations from
one who has frequented some big shows in the interior regions of the US
Northeast: Out here on the Left Coast, much of the furniture at higher-end
events like this originated in Yurp ("continent" on northwestern end of
Eurasian land mass, to which your island is now connected by underwater
tunnel, Jeff). So there were a couple of pieces that actually might have
been made in the 17th century, as the tag claimed, and quite a few nice
18th and early 19th-century pieces. Then you fast-forward to Arts and
Crafts, Mission oak, and the like. Very little of the country pine and
rustic stuff one sees, eg, at Madison-Bouckville and other eastern US
conflabs, nor the quality Boston, or Baltimore, or Philly items one sees in
eastern US shows and shops. (When I commented on a nicely inlaid firebox
[or whatever you call those scoop-shaped boxes about a foot square, with a
carrying handle on top and a metal bucket inside, for keeping banked
coals], the guy in the booth said he has them shipped from Britain by the
container.
OldTools content: in a word, durn little, and all at Full Retail.
little groups of 4-fold rules in with the fountain pens and pocket knives,
and an odd and end here and there. One lady had a very nice SW #2 in her
case for $375, another guy had a complete #55 in wooden box, most cutters
never honed, "as is typical" (tmPL;-) asking $600, elsewhere a #10 1/2, one
cheek and tote cracked and nicely repaired, for $125, and like that.
THE QUERY: One booth had half a dozen English back saws lined up,
including one that could have been the pattern for the IT. The brass
backing strips had the requisite high polish, and although some could be
rehabilitated for their original purpose, these were not being sold as
users. One logo caught my eye, and I thought to ask the Saw People about
it: Spear and Jackson, 14" blade, closed handle, filed 10pt. Next to the
S&J stamp on the rib was a stamped image of a boy leaping over another
boy's back, and the word "leapfrog" stamped next to it. What does anybody
know about "leapfrog" saws?
Tom Holloway
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