Generic pin mark ID
Not being that familiar with possibly different styles of generic pin marks,
i.e. those with just the point size and no name, has anyone put together a reference chart of those pin marks — if indeed they do vary in style?
Like this one, late 19th-early 20th century. Not patented and face probably originally from Europe. Depth of drive, .125”. Many foundries carried the face so I would like to narrow it down a bit.
IMG_1295.jpg
A wonderful metal type reference web site you may find helpful:
https://www.circuitousroot.com/artifice/letters/press/noncomptype/identi...
Michael Vickey
Nickel Plate Press
Thanks Michael. I am familiar with the site and have visited many times. It is an excellent resource on many things about letterpress.
There is a very good section on pin marks, but none that cover these generic ones. No other resource that I am aware of does so either. It is possible there are just too many of them to research and they all look too much alike.
I have a full set of “Electric Ornaments” that have the same pinmark you show with a full circle around the 48 (also around the 24 on the smaller characters, though the 72 pt. and 12 pt. characters do not have the circle). This set of ornaments was first shown by the Conner type foundry in 1889, so I have assumed that this was a Conner pinmark. That said, I can’t say with 100 percent confidence that this is Conner’s pinmark, because the ornaments were also cast by ATF for some years after its formation. The Circuitousroot.com site shows a very similar mark that researchers had tentatively identified as Conner, but the images show an incomplete circle around the point size. Look at the “unidentified” marks #17 on the site.
You are right, quite a few pinmarks are mysteries and have not been identified, and a few may have been identified incorrectly by various researchers. More research is needed, but the information just may not be out there.-Bob M.
Bob, thanks so much for the info about the Conner pin marks. I have been leaning toward them because of the depth of drive, but then it could have been ATF after ‘92.
The two specimens I have (‘69 & ‘73) for Conner don’t show the condensed face I have although they do show the normal widths. The face also appears in a ca. ‘76 specimen of Shanks TF in London.
The ATF ‘95-96 Collective specimen attributes the face to MS&J and it is shown in MS&J specimens beginning in ‘78. The face was discontinued by ATF after 1902.