What did I just find?

[Legion]

Found this in a second hand store today. Smallish, and scuffed up, But I could lap it if it is worth it. It wasn't very expensive.

The label says JGES. Trade -Mark- Ash.Genuine water hone.


Interestingly Ash in German is Esche. Not quite Escher, but kind of close...


Anyway, any info on what kind of stone this might be? Feels like some sort of slate.

 

[LJS]

J G Escher and Sons

Yes, thuringian Escher hone

 

[Gamma]

JGES = Johan Gottfried Escher Sonneberg, the other 1/2 of the company was J.G. Escher & Son.
Some or possibly most JGES stones are synthetic/reconstituted. I do not know if this one is natural or man-made.
Peter will know. @hatzicho

 

[Legion]

JGES = Johan Gottfried Escher Sonneberg, the other 1/2 of the company was J.G. Escher & Son.
Some or possibly most JGES stones are synthetic/reconstituted. I do not know if this one is natural or man-made.
Peter will know. @hatzicho

It's hard to tell. I can't see obvious saw marks.

On the other side the corner is missing and the surface looks quite rough, more like it was mined than pressed out like a barber hone.

 

[Jayber Crow]

A lot of edge jointing going on back in the day.

 

[Gamma]

It's hard to tell. I can't see obvious saw marks.

On the other side the corner is missing and the surface looks quite rough, more like it was mined than pressed out like a barber hone.

Without making a new break, acid testing, etc, I would not venture to say one way or another. That corner does not show slaty cleavage, but it's an old break and the surface is worn. It could very well be a natural stone. But I have seen synthetics (and naturals) with fractured corners that look, at least, similar to that. I had a JGES recon Coticule with a corner that looked similar but not exactly like that.
I would venture to guess that the scoring in the surface at that one end was from sharpening fishhooks, arrowheads, or even small tools.

 

[Legion]

Without making a new break, acid testing, etc, I would not venture to say one way or another. That corner does not show slaty cleavage, but it's an old break and the surface is worn. It could very well be a natural stone. But I have seen synthetics (and naturals) with fractured corners that look, at least, similar to that. I had a JGES recon Coticule with a corner that looked similar but not exactly like that.
I would venture to guess that the scoring in the surface at that one end was from sharpening fishhooks, arrowheads, or even small tools.

Yeah, for sure. I’ve seen that done by darts, quite often. Annoying. If they went along the stone you could still sharpen a pocket knife on it.

 

[Legion]

Update:

I got to lapping, and it looks to be a Thuringian, so that was a good score. It's actually the first decent stone I have ever found in the wild.

 

[Legion]

Dark blue or black mottled Escher from later in the companies history, I'm thinking.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Yeah that's a mottled black, which as I understand it were all very late era.

 

[TurtlePL]

Yup... Black mottled.
I have couple of these + similar stone from JGESS, but with different label.

 

[timwcic]

Very cool score, great wild caught stone

 

[TurtlePL]

Late Escher Stones

 

[Legion]

I already have one of these in a barber hone size I got from Peter, but that one is a lot more “mottled” in appearance. It will be interesting to see if there is much difference in performance.