I picked up this ten inch Jackson backsaw from a patternmaker's basement a few months ago. The saw caught my eye - it was an early example of the Jackson line as evidenced by the sunken medallion and split nuts. Jackson was one of the Disston Company's second lines; handles were beech, not apple and the blades were not as highly polished. Nevertheless, they were well made tools. The smaller examples make fine dovetail saws. The blade on this one had more pitting than I like in a saw so I re-bladed it with a blade from an old flea market dovetail saw, a generic version of a Disston #68. The 'new' blade was a very close match in thickness, length and appearance to the old blade and was 15 TPI, a good choice for a dovetail saw. In the course of refitting the blade and cleaning the handle, I became fascinated with the eagle medallion. After some preliminary cleaning, I could see that the eagle was clutching some arrows in the left talon and what looked like leaves in the right:
I did some research into the origin of the eagle insignia and found a variety of sources on the Internet. I never did find a definitive account of the origin of the eagle medallion save that very similar examples of the insignia date back to the 1740's and were found on Revolutionary War flags etc., and later, on coins. Much of the available material discusses the presence of the eagle, with olive branch and arrows, as part of the Great Seal of the US and later as devices present on ensigns of various government agencies. A good account of the latter is found on the US Treasury web site:
"...The job of designing the distinguishing ensign eventually fell upon Oliver Wolcott, who had replaced Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury in 1795. On June 1, 1799, Wolcott submitted his design to President John Adams for approval. Wolcott's proposal featured an ensign of sixteen vertical stripes, alternating red and white, representing the number of states that had joined the Union by 1799. In suggesting a correspondence of stripes and states, Wolcott was following the lead of Congress, which in 1794 had changed the national flag to fifteen stars and fifteen stripes, implying an adjustment at the entry of each new state. Wolcott, therefore, raised the number of stripes to sixteen, and significantly, turned their arrangement ninety degrees to differentiate the new revenue cutter ensign from the U.S. Flag. The noted author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, who served as customs surveyor at the port of Salem, Massachusetts, from 1846 to 1849, would later suggest the "stripes turned vertically, not horizontally, (indicated) a civil, not military, post of Uncle Sam's government."
For the union of the ensign, Wolcott proposed using the Arms of the United States, officially adopted by Congress in 1782, displaying an American bald eagle clutching a bundle of arrows in its sinister talon, and an olive branch in the dexter talon. Walcott's use of the National Arms in the union of the revenue cutter ensign was not unique: American regimental colors at the end of the Revolutionary War featured the Arms and stripes. One such flag, dating from 1784, and now preserved at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, shows the union's eagle beneath an arc of thirteen stars, bearing in its talons three arrows and an olive branch, much like the eagle placed in the union of the first revenue cutter ensign. A similar flag appears in portraits by the artist Charles Wilson Peale, of Revolutionary War heroes George Washington, and Samuel Smith...."
Entire sites are devoted to the symbolism of the Great Seal. One site discusses each aspect of the seal and provides background on the use of the olive branch. In the Jackson medallion, and also similar Disston-branded saws, the eagle faces the dexter talon, the olive branch. This symbolizes the desire for peace. But the arrows in the sinister talon are held forward and partially cover the dexter talon. This aspect of the medallion fascinated me, especially given the fact that I cleaned and restored the saw in the days following September 11, 2001.
I sharpened the teeth with a rip profile and indeed, it is a fine dovetail saw.
