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(C) Vin Callcut 2002-2008  Small extracts can be used with acknowledgements to 'Oldcopper.org website'

Anaconda
Ansonia Copper Brass

   
  Producers of Copper and Fabricators of Brass and Copper
   
   
 

This will be just a small sample of producers and fabricators whose products or souvenirs have appeared in domestic markets.  Illustrations will be included in the main Makers Marks sections.  Marks List

     
     
  American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers.  This mark was included in a splendid souvenir tray.
     
  Ampco - American Metal Products Co was founded in 1914 by August Littman who developed an extra-hard copper alloy. Since then they have specialised in meeting demands for high strength, low magnetic susceptibility, spark-resistance and electrical conductivity. Photo to come.
     
  Anaconda Anaconda
     
  Ansonia    Ansonia
     
  Birmingham Brass, USA Birmingham Brass USA
     
 

John Bibby Sons & Co., Liverpool. Supplied sheathing for HMS Victory.  Latterly concentrated on the shipping business.

HMS Victory Copper Sheathing
     
  Bristol Brass, original home of the British brass industry. Bristol Brass
     
  British Copper Manufacturers formed in 1924 by the amalgamation of the two major copper smelting firms in Swansea, Messrs. Vivian and Sons; and Messrs. Williams Foster and Company and Pascoe Grenfell and Sons Limited.  In 1927 it was taken over by Yorkshire Imperial Metals Ltd., a joint company of Yorkshire Metals and Imperial Chemical Industries Limited (ICI), see also IMI below. Records are in the University of Wales, Swansea.
     
  Butte Copper Co., Montana.  The story of the development of original mines at Butte, Montana involved fierce competition between at least three men who went on to be called 'Copper Kings' and moved in to Wall street finance.  The small adit mine tunnels became a pit over a mile long, nearly a mile wide and 1800 feet deep. Mining ceased there in 1982.  see: Anaconda
     
  Bingham Canyon, Utah. This is the world's largest man-made excavation, being more than 4km ( 2 1/2 miles) across at the top, 1km (3/4 mile) deep and covering 800 hectares (1,900 acres). Bingham Canyon ore has yielded more than 17 million tons of copper.  It is well worth a visit and is now also home to 'The World's Largest Copper Shop'.  The Utah Copper Company was formed in 1903 and bought out by Kennecott Utah Copper in 1936 although the operating name was retained for a time.  It is now part of Rio Tinto. This cast copper souvenir paper weight is 75mm (3") long.
 

Kennecott.com/history

     
  Boliden McKechnie Bros
     
  Cornish Copper Company see: 'The History of the Cornish Copper Company', by W.H. Pascoe Redruth: Truran, [1982]. Note that the copper brand 'CCC' was later used by Chile Copper Company CCC
 

http://www.cornish-mining.org.uk/sites/hayle.htm

     
 

Crown Copper Co

Crown Copper Works at Neath, South Wales and head office in Birmingham, then owned by Rose & Co.

Photo to come.
     
 

Delta Metal Co, originally at Greenwich, London, very near the site now occupied by the Millennium Dome and at Dartmouth Street, Birmingham, they were the innovators of Alexander Dick's extrusion process for brass. A 'new' factory in West Bromwich, near Birmingham is also now closed. 

Delta bronze No. IV was an early free-machining brass for hot stampings and extrusions.  This marking is under a specially hot stamped commemorative ashtray.   Other trade names included 'Deltoid', 'Dixtrudo' and 'Dixtampo'.

     
 

Dornach, Switzerland.  This mark on a souvenir cymbal celebrates 90 years of manufacturing from 1895-1985 and is made from a sonorous alloy made within the Swissmetal Group. In 1855, a rolling mill and foundry, Bueche, Boillat & Cie., was founded in Reconvilier in the Bernese Jura. This company changed its name several times before the formation of Swissmetal: from 1960 it was called Boillat S.A. The first plant in Dornach was also a rolling mill and foundry operated under the name Schweizerische Metallwerke AG Dornach. The Selve rolling mills in Thun were in the group until closed in 1991. Busch-Jaeger Metallwerk GmbH, Lüdenscheid. Germany is another group member. Initially set up to meet the exacting needs of the Swiss watch industry, it now produces precision copper-alloy forms and profiles for the semiconductor electronics industry.

 

http://www.swissmetal.com/

     
  Enfield Rolling Mills  Three souvenir small copper wirebars made by Enfield Copper Refiners during the 1960s while they were still casting 100kg wirebars for rolling to copper rod and drawing to wire. The top of the casting is fully convex which is typical of a good tough pitch copper. Length 140mm (5 1/2") Weight 200g (7oz) each.
     
 

Hutmen

Brass manufacturer of Wrotslav, Poland

Photo to come.
     
  IMI Metals, ICI Metals, Kynoch Works, Witton, Birmingham and elsewhere.   Constituent companies included Kynoch Ltd., The King's Norton Metal Co., Muntz's Metal Co., The Hughes Stubbs Metal Co., Wm Cooper & Goode, British Copper Manufacturers Ltd., Allen Everitt & Sons Ltd., The Broughton Copper Co. Ltd. and John Bibby, Sons & Co. (Garston) Ltd. and Yorkshire Imperial Metals amongst others.  They later became part of ICI Metals Division, Imperial Metal Industries, then IMI plc.  This 1985 souvenir ashtray was machined from a slice off a continuously cast billet 92mm diameter that retains the original cast surface.
     
 

Lambero

Supplied sheathing for HMS Victory.

HMS Victory Copper Sheathing
     
    Muntz's Metal Co., Elliot Road, Selly Oak, Birmingham, started c1829 as G F Muntz of Water Street, Birmingham, then French Walls Works, Alma Street, Smethwick, Staffordshire. Marks Me-Mz
     
  National Copper & Smelting Co. Cleveland Copper Ashtray. National Copper & Smelting Company is a leader in the market for precision seamless drawn copper tubing. The Company was founded in 1916 in Cleveland, Ohio and moved its operations to Huntsville, Alabama in 1982. It still makes precision copper tubing for refrigeration, air conditioning, heat exchangers, etc. [http://www.nationaltube.com/ncs/theco.htm]
     
  Pascoe Grenfell and Sons was founded in the 1820s.  They owned the middle and Upper Bank Copper Works in the Lower Swansea Valley and at their height employed 800 men.  The works merged with the neighbouring firm of Williams, Foster and Co to form Williams and Grenfell in 1892 and in 1924 the group amalgamated with Vivian and Sons to form the British Copper Company, in turn taken over by Yorkshire Imperial Metals Ltd. which later became Imperial Metal Industries (IMI Metals Division). (source - Archives Network Wales) Photo to come.

 

     
 

Parys Mountain

Copper mine in Anglesey, North Wales, for a time the World’s largest, now a heritage site.

Photo to come.
 

http://www.parysmountain.co.uk/

http://www.angleseymining.co.uk/ParysMountain/HomeParys.htm

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 .Procobre , Lima, Peru

 

http://www.procobreperu.org/home.htm

     
 

Revere Copper

Copper and Cookware, Rome USA

Revere Copper
     
 

Roe & Co

Cheadle Works near Mines Royal Works at Neath Abbey, South Wales, c1790, succeeded by Cheadle Copper Co until 1821.

Photo to come.
     
 

Rose Copper Co

Based in Birmingham, with a large copper refinery in Neath, South Wales, c1800.  The company was one of many that issued copper tokens at this time.

     
  Southwire Copper Rod  Souvenir coil made for guests at the commissioning of the new continuous copper wire rod plant on the 17th October 1974 at Enfield Rolling Mills. The coil of finished rod is mounted on a section of the original casting from which it was rolled. Marked 'First SCR Coil'.
     
  Swedish Copper Producers Swedish Copperware
     
 

Vivian and Son

A leading producer in South Wales with refineries at Hafod Copper Works, Swansea and Margam Copper Works, Port Talbot, Glamorgan.  Vivian & Son  Ingot mark of the copper works in Swansea set up by the early copper entrepreneur, John Vivian who came from a Cornish mining family.   This is one of a number of ingots recently recovered from a shipwreck. 

One of his sons, Henry Hussey Vivian, founded H H Vivian & Co., 46 George Street, St. Pauls, Birmingham, made semi-fabricated copper and brass in the early 19th century at Icknield Port Road Works. see 'Vivian and Sons, 1809-1924': a study of the firm in the copper and related industries', Robert R. Toomey. Garland, 1985.

     
  They supplied copper sheathing for HMS Victory.  This is a Vivian inspection stamp mark found on rolled copper from the late 19th century re-sheathing of HMS Victory.  The 32oz/sq. ft. grade was the thickest used and was applied to the bow section.
     
   Oval stamp for Vivian and Sons, Yellow Metal Braziers.  This is on the back of a brass tray that was dip tinned before being sent to India for decoration by relief of the tin.
     
 

 

 
     
 

Walthamstow Copper

Rolling mill in North East London, (later birthplace of William Morris), Refinery at Landore, South Wales. Several designs of tokens were issued for use in lieu of copper coinage.

     
     
     
   

 

     
     

 

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