Lin Moran, The Birmingham Assay Office Registration Co-ordinator and Sally Hoban, The Birmingham Assay Office Training & Heritage Officer were only to happy to help a customer recently who enquired about identifying a hallmark on a walking stick. The customer emailed Sally with his query - 'I bought an antique walking stick in Canada near Toronto. The band on it is Sterling and has a lion, an anchor, a W in the 1896 style and the initials J.N. for which I can find no information. I was hoping you could help. Photo attached.' Sally and Lin then got to work trying to identify the hallmark and find out as much information as the could on the item and they discovered the following - The makers mark “J.N” belonged to Julius Nussbaum, he registered with The Birmingham Assay Office in 1888 as a Stick Mounter from London, later becoming a Umbrella Manufacturer also. The customer was very happy to receive this information about the item as this has allowed him to piece together more information on its history.  To read more about the walking stick why not visit the customers blog: http://www.blipfoto.com/entry/3347655 If you need any help identifying hallmarks then please email gem@theassayoffice.co.uk or call 0871 871 6020. Please note this is a chargeable service.

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