Measure, baluster measure

A baluster measure with the touch of John Fasson. Fasson was free in 1725, opened his shop in 1731 and died in 1769. (Variants of the ‘sword’ and horse shoe motif were used by other members of this pewtering family.) John Fasson was a leading maker of baluster measures and a great number has survived. Date: 1731-1769 The ownership mark probably relates to the King’s Arms Tavern in Exchange Alley, Cornhill, the meeting place of the King’s Arms Society, described in The London Magazine; or, Gentleman’s monthly intelligencer, Vol 21, p575 and Vol 30, p106 and in Betty Rizzo article in Eighteenth Century Life, Vol 29, No. 1, Winter, 2005. The King’s Arms is also listed in Lillywhite, 1972 from 1704-1772, p 312 – 9367 and in The Gentleman’s Magazine, 1778 Vol 48, p 287 there is a reference to ‘Thomas Comyn and Stephen Jacob, of the King’s Arms tavern…Cornhill, vintner. Comyn was listed as a bankrupt on 13th January 1778. Rowden was presumably a partner in the business.