Help and comments on an Axe head

[M ELEY]

Originally Posted by CutlassCollector

The books show many different sizes and shapes of axe heads - by trade, by country, by state and it appears that half the counties in England have their own derivative. Mark has found the closest match in Neumann but the only exact match I could find is in Kauffman's American axes. It is the same shape but no mark. It states unknown origin and function but is iron with a steel bit and they place it as 18th Century.

With the makers name I would agree with the already suggested c. 1800 but it may be later as it appears well forged - no signs of the join along the seams - which probably means water or steam driven hammers which would tie in with a manufacturer rather than a single smith.
Iron with a steel bit was the only option for a 'good' axe until the last half of the 19th century when steel started to become cheaper and more plentiful.

Just to add a few notes to support pretty much what others have said, I am now in agreement that it is probably French. The Basque connotation was from a fur trapper ax book I have, with an ax very closely resembling yours, but this reference has had some other flawed information that I've come across as well (halberd tobacco cutter tool heads listed as tomahawks? I don't think so!).

In another volume I recently acquired from a friend, Indian Trade Axes by Lar Hotham, there are at least 4 other examples closely resembling yours, all with indistinguishing marks or unknown origins, but all found on Native American sites. Just by deduction alone, only the French and Brits traded with the 'locals' in New England. Spanish axes are typically only found in the southern U.S. and not trade items, but tools used by the Spanish and locals as tools. Your pattern ax seems to always turn up in areas where French trade occurred...thus and QUITE redundantly (since we already know it's French by the signature!), we know it's origin by trade route as well. I bring all this up because it is still a very interesting piece and I'm glad you decided to keep it, David. Good find! Also, I agree with you on early forge welds. If it is 'trip hammer', it would still be early 1820's, but I suspect earlier. That triangular eye and blunt poll was more of a pre-1800 pattern...