Warren63 wroteYes the seller who has it has told me that Graces have confirmed that GP has been recorded at the address in question. Says she is going to re-list it. I was dubious because I couldn’t understand why it doesn’t have the 212 patent on it, which would make it pre 1855. I just don’t know to be honest, I thought Tom might know of it’s existence. It’s getting to the point that it’s not safe to buy off eBay anymore.
Well I’d need a lot more convincing as the London address may well be correct, it’s the rest of the plate that doesn’t add up to me.
Consider any of George Price’s plates of that style, ie the treble patent, improved patent etc. The first thing that’s noticeable is the quality of the actual castings, and all of the fine detail. They are beautifully cast plates with precise detail and crisp definition throughout, whereas that one isn’t.
With regards to lettering, the George Price plates of that style Ive seen have always read PRICE’S with an apostrophe, and not PRICE without the apostrophe like that one.
All the ones I’ve seen have had the same style font top and bottom within concentric circles, not a mixture of fonts or with and without serifs within the same circle like that one has. ‘LONDON’ should be in the same font as ‘GEORGE PRICE’ and with the serifs on the letters.
With regards to the lack of 212 markings I honestly don’t know, but it’s clear to see on that one that the quatrefoils used instead were positioned by the pattern maker, presumably after 10 pints of strong beer. Again, the ones I’ve seen had the little oval 212 badges equally spaced between the top and bottom arcs of lettering.
Just seems unlikely to me that a company like GP that’s known for such noticeable high quality would break tradition and use a mishmash of wording, fonts, and mis-aligned patterns like that, whereas the Jodhpur foundries have been casting similar plates of similar quality for some time. They were presumably a worthwhile and lucrative sideline to their everyday stuff like toilet, office and hotel signs etc.
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