Small Bead Plane (1/2")
Date1814
Maker
James Stiles
1743 - 1830
MediumBeech, boxwood, iron, and steel
DimensionsLength: 9 7/16"; thickness: 1 1/4"
Credit LineGift of Thomas Elliott
Object number2024-323
DescriptionSmall bead plane with round chamfers that end with a turn-out, a molded shoulder, and a single strip of boxing.Label TextEnglish born, James Stiles was working as a carpenter, toolmaker, and planemaker in New York City before the Revolutionary War. In 1774, he's recorded as having bought "sundry plans" (planes) from Thomas Napier for £1 New York money, showing that he was also handling products made by other tradesmen. Perhaps when the British took New York City in 1776, Stiles fled north. He is believed to be the same James Stiles who served in the First Regiment, Ulster County Militia and settled permanently there, in Kingston, at war's end.
Stiles is one of the few American planemakers of the 18th c. to date his planes, the earliest known bearing the date 1778, and the latest dated 1830, the year he passed away.
While his son James, Jr. became a silversmith and watchmaker in Kingston, James, Sr. turned his planemaking tools over to his grandson, James J. Stiles, in 1823. Semi-retired, James, Sr. kept his finger in the planemaking pie as long as he could.Mark(s)The toe of the plane marked with J.STILES in relief within a rectangle (Elliott, AWP, p.360, imprint B), with the incuse date 1814 punched in below. Size mark of 1/2, incuse, is also punched into the heel, along with 7/6, incuse.ProvenanceApril 1992, purchased by Thomas Elliott (Westbrook, CT); 2024, given to The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA)
