Thread: Simmons Hardware co. / What do I have?

The mystery unravels a bit...

After cleaning with soap and water a silver hallmark has appeared.

According to several sites, the silver hallmark is from the Gorham company. My mark has the lion facing towards the right which indicates that it was made after 1853. Further dating is a bit more tricky. The markings are as follows:
Gorham hallmark
STERLING
K O T

For reference I used Gorham: sterling silver marks, hallmarks, dates and history and Gorham: sterling silver marks, hallmarks, dates and history.

So what does the K O T mean? Is it a date code? If so, the "K" would indicate 1878, the "O" would indicate 1882, and the "T" indicates ???. So maybe it's not a date code in which case if no date code is found it could possibly indicate a date of between 1933 and 1941 due to Gorham discontinuing the year markings between that time period. Why would a piece have two or more date codes on it? Could the KOT be a marking from a plating company such as gold plated silver? My research continues.

In case anyone was wondering, I found this SR back in the late 1970's or early 1980's in the woods in Lutz which is near the Tampa Bay area of Florida.

The pictures below were captured with a Dino-Lite Pro digital microscope.



I found an old post from 2006 on this site from a member that has a silver scale SR. I mention it due to his only having one pin in the scales as well.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...led-razor.html

Noice! So is that inside the scales? I have several sterling silver ones and none have a bottom pin.
I would think the letters under represent a model number?

Thanks for making this a real learning thread! It is gun to be here and finding something new about the old!
~Richard

The word Sterling has been double stamped. First stamp was upside down. KOT? Keep On Truckin'...silversmith's initials...and the world may never know............................

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Interesting how the scales are sporting a fancy monogram. They do have a rather plain appearance such as scales on medical razors, however. Look around on them and see if you might find a silver hallmark?

The tarnish seems to indicate they may be silver??

Tom, as soon as I saw them (scales) I had a feeling they had to be sterling by the tarnishing on them.
Wow & he found it too. It couldn't have been where he found it too long with all the humidity in Florida. The blade isn't rusty. It seems to have someones initials on it too so someone might have broke into a house & dropped it while on the run, probably out of a pillowcase with the corner torn. Who knows? I'm sure the owner would have had it a lot more protected than to drop it somewhere.

Nothing new to report but I'm still researching. Thanks also for the nice comments. It's also good to learn that numerous silver scaled SR's have only one visible pin. Neat little fact that I hope will help collectors in the future.

Excellent observation concerning the double stamped "sterling" mark. I've seen firearms with upside stamps, some were marked out and correctly stamped next to or on top of the error while others went unchanged.

To answer questions, yes the hallmark is on the inside of one of the scales. It is located directly above the pivot point of the blade.

I seem to recall that when I found the SR it was with a pile of trash that someone had dumped. I probably poked thru it with a stick. That was about 40 years ago and I was a very young kid. For some reason(probably because it's the only one I've ever owned) I kept it all these years.

The anchor stands for Birmingham, England. 1773-present


British Sterling - English Hallmarks, Irish Hallmarks & Scottish Hallmarks


Mike

Thanks for your thoughts mglindo. I just noticed that on the links I posted above, one did not work concerning the hallmark. I'll try it again below.

The image below is from the link directly above it. Notice the hallmark on the bottom right corner of the pic below which I believe to be the same as the one found on my SR.


Gorham Silver Marks & Dates - Encyclopedia of Silver Marks, Hallmarks & Makers' Marks

Looks like it to me. I don't have any razors with sterling scales at all but a couple of my E.C. Simmons razor have ivory scales from the factory.

Yes, Gorham did abscond with the anchor, which causes some confusion.
It looks like the second example from the bottom to my eye.

Additionally, if it is the same as some Dutch hallmarks I have researched, the lion standing on it's front and rear legs would be 'lion passant' which indicates lesser than .999 silver while a lion standing on his back legs would be 'lion rampant' which would indicate .999 or pure silver.