Quote:
Originally Posted by Paddy
William
So your badge was originally stamped by Buttons Ltd but was overstamped by a curved Firmin & Son whereas mine was originally stamped with a straight Firmin London mark but subsequently overstamped by Buttons Ltd.
Any ideas Chris
Paddy
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Hi Paddy,
Tentative Yes.
Buttons were taken over by Francis Sumner in 1970 after which I lost the history of the company. See page 28 of the book.
However, I was always intregued to find that one lug design (Lug 2.1) as used by Firmin was also used on badges by Buttons Limited - see pages 84-85 of the Lugs chapter. I never worked out the exact date of sharing taking a sit on the fence 'mid era' being 60s and 70s.
Possibly the relationship was a lot closer than I thought with Firmin acquiring Buttons Ltd. and possibly overstamping their badges.
Note - This sort of thing also occurred with some Gaunt pieces too but in this case it looks like a Gaunt mark overstamped a Firmin one - pages 52-53 of the Manufacturer's Marking chapter under the section titled:
A Close Relationship Between Firmin & Sons and J. R. Gaunt & Son?
Firmin picked up Gaunt in 1991 and I put the question in the book that Firmin may have been trying to resurrect the Gaunt mark for some reason. Pure speculation on my side but such an occurrence needed to be accounted for.
Initial assumption - Firmin did acquire Buttons Ltd in some form (possibly via Francis Sumner) and some of its badges were later rebranded as Firmin pieces?
Regards
Chris