I need help identifying this maker marked on a Vivienne Westwood signet ring. I’ve searched the other marks to date it at London 1995, but no other records for “JCB”.
The best guess would be it’s a personally made sample piece for runway or collection lookbooks before it became a consumer item publicly sold and subsequently branded with the “VW” mark. Knowing the name and history of the maker for authentication would be appreciated!
Clearly, a product of Joseph Cyril Bamford Excavators Ltd, branching out from their usual big yellow backhoes, diggers, etc.
Just kidding, of course, but other than knowing that the maker is JCB, there seems to be little available information. The London assay office might be able to clarify.
I managed to email the London Assay more info about the piece and they confirmed it to be “Jonathan Charles Beeby” of Beeby and Powell.
I just need help from someone in the area to confirm if they still exist in their address or number, or if Vivienne Westwood was indeed one of their clients.
Jon Beeby
Jim Powell
2/6 Basement
Victoria Street
Rochester
Kent, ME1 1XH
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1634 830 764
No email response from them yet and their website is down. Their old website via Wayback Machine mentioned Cartier as one of their top clients so it’s highly possible.
Good work! The keepers of this page can fill in that missing bit:
https://www.silvermakersmarks.co.uk/Makers/London-JC-JF.html#JC
No, I can’t. The JCB on that page is a different mark.
However I would love to include Beeby & Powell’s mark if you allow me to use your image, krysnosis.
Phil
Ah, yes - this one really does have a very distinctive punch shape.
Sure, I would love to contribute to the archive. Hope more people find this same mark or have more info on Beeby so I can cross reference.
Many thanks for that.
This is my makers mark, how can I help?
Stoked to hear from you, if you’re the real deal of course. This thread has all of my questions, like how this ring came about, date, and legitimacy, if you can lend some insight, proof, or corroborate information. Would love to know more concrete info on my ring and help out with the historical archive.
We made these in three basic sizes, L, M, & S back in the day, they were cast with the orbs in and re-punched to crisp everything, up obviously for Vivienne Westwood but through a jewelry agent.
They were ordered in batches of thirty each size and we made them for a couple of years if i remember correctly then the orders stopped coming.
I presume that they started selling quickly and would have been off shored for cheaper production!?
Since it’s a commissioned work, I suppose you wouldn’t know what it was used for? Or did you have an idea? Also, any reason why it didn’t have the brand’s mark/name on it, as compared with other jewelry by Vivienne Westwood during 1995 that had their name (VW) stamped?
Good point, I can’t remember if the first batch had this mark or all of them and although I know the agent worked closely with Vivienne Westwood and he had other designs that we made samples for I never thought to question where they would end up? Let me have a dig around and see if I can shed anymore light on this.
