Thread: Anyone seen this? Ideas please

I believe the crows foot mark means property of the British ministry of defence. (MOD)

Hiya Dane...

That symbol looks very much like a prison stamp. The shave may have been part of the bad boys' (or girls') workshop. It may have been issued in 1951, and the second number is a serial.

Very cool

Edit :

Originally Posted by pugwash

I believe the crows foot mark means property of the British ministry of defence. (MOD)

I thought the arrow was a fairly standard gaol symbol, but I could very well be wrong.

The Broad Arrow - used to identify property of the government and probably best known on convicts' uniforms.
Henry Sidney, Earl of Romney, Master of Ordnance to William and Mary, was asked to mark all government property to reduce theft. He chose to use his family emblem which is a broad arrow, or Pheon, and this is still in use today by the UK government 300 years later.
http://members.iinet.net.au/~perthdps/convicts/serendip.html

The mark on your spokeshave may have a crown above the arrow.
Either way it usually marked the item as government property.
So this could have belonged to a government department. Take your pick. Defence, Education, Corrective Services, Government Shipyards, Railways, Public Works etc
A good find.
Lucky you.
Cheers
SG

That's bloody interesting guys. No crown above the arrow, but I would never have thought that it was called the broad arrow- (I thought it was called the crow's foot, but my drunk mate told me tat
So interesting to think about who in all it's years has held and used it. That's one of the main reasons tools are so special to me..

Dunno if I'd give it to an inmate to play with though

Thanks guys, very helpful, Have a nice night

Originally Posted by Scribbly Gum

The Broad Arrow - used to identify property of the government and probably best known on convicts' uniforms.

I believe Scotland Yard are on their way round to your place right now to recover some Government property you're holding illegally

Be carefull. You might be seeing few more of those Broad Arrows.

Cheers, Vann.

Never mind Scotland Yard. I'd be more worried about the military police. Big and nasty they used to be and I doubt if they've changed.
Keep your doors locked (though that never stopped them)
Jim

I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but it's nothing more sinister than ex-Ministry of Defence - probably Army. Every so often, the MOD sells off surplus stores and everyone in the British Isles has been to an MOD surplus auction at some point in their life, or bought stuff from a dealer who attended one of the auctions.

All that stamp means is that it was purchased by the MOD in 1951.

Originally Posted by Woodwould

I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but it's nothing more sinister than ex-Ministry of Defence - probably Army. Every so often, the MOD sells off surplus stores and everyone in the British Isles has been to an MOD surplus auction at some point in their life, or bought stuff from a dealer who attended one of the auctions.

All that stamp means is that it was purchased by the MOD in 1951.

Well, that's kind of what I figured, Still pretty happy and my bubble is fully intact

I s'pose it would've bbe slightly cooler had it been previously in the hands of a convict. Oh well.

Originally Posted by Eldanos of KDM

Well, that's kind of what I figured, Still pretty happy and my bubble is fully intact

I s'pose it would've bbe slightly cooler had it been previously in the hands of a convict. Oh well.

You want it held by convicts? Bring it to me, I have a few clients like that.