Silver Turtle Tape Measure - Maker?

Good morning all! I here a silverplate 'headless' turtle tape measure that I haven't been able to ID the mark. I know it isn't worth a "plug nickel," but curiosity has gotten the best of me. As the old "saw" goes, curiosity killed the cat, **but** satisfaction brought it back! Silver turtle tape measures are a "dime a dozen" when Googled, but this one was my grandmother's and and then my mother. I have vivid memories of it from the mid 1940s. As a child I'd loved to pull its head in and out. Mother scorned me a million times to stop that I was going to pull the head off. Welllll, I had forgotten about it until a couple of years ago when I found it stuck in the back corner of my mother's sewing table. Sure enough the head is gone and no doubt I did it. I have no idea how old it is or maker. So much for the provenance.

There is a maker's mark on the back that looks like 2 interlaced letters. My first thought was the Unger Bros., but on close-up I'm about positive it is not the Unger Bros. I have searched the web for other turtle tapes with the same saying: "Pull My Head But Not My Leg" in hopes of seeing the same mark, but haven't found the same. I would love to know whose mark. It bothers me not to be able to ID a silver mark. There is no other markings on it. I have scanned the mark and rotated it this way and that noting possible ideas to the letters. None of the possibilities look like any familiar maker's mark I know.

TIA.

--- Susan

 

Barstow & Williams, typical of their novelty items...

~Cheryl

 

That is so CUTE!

Circa 1900? with that style of letters? Rainwater says Barstow and Williams reverted to N. Barstow about 1904. Does that sound right, Cheryl?

 

Eh- I'd probably guess 1890s, but could really be from anywhere in the firm's lifetime...

~Cheryl

 

>Barstow & Williams<

Thank you, Cheryl!! You rode to the rescue again, again, and again!!!! Knowing it is Barstow & Williams clears up the original owner - my paternal grandmother. The sewing table was originally her's, but mother had used the table since Grandma's death in 1944. I was hesitant to attribute the tape measure to my mother or grandmother. Now I'm pretty confident in attributing it to Grandma G.

Bake, thank you for taking the time of looking up Barstow & Williams in Rainwater. I did a cursory search through Rainwater, but didn't know what letter(s) to look under. As I said above knowing this dates from the late 1800s to early 1900s allows me to confidently attribute it to my Grandmother.

--- Susan

 

No problem - you're not alone in thinking 'Unger Bros.', but more astute than most in realizing it's not their mark. Shame about the missing head, but suspect the memories attached to the item and your mother's admonitions make it even more precious than if intact (besides, it 'told' you to pull its head)...

~Cheryl

 

Just put the little fellow at the base of a potted plant, with his (head) under a leaf.

And, with a gesture to Washington Irving, call him Brom Bones.