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This specific maker's mark is historically significant and allows for a precise date range. John Farthing ran a long-standing high-end luxury goods and stationer firm at 42 Cornhill, London. Around 1859, he entered into a brief partnership with the renowned Victorian cutler, silversmith, and maker of luxury writing boxes, Walter Thornhill. Because Walter Thornhill moved on to form his independent flagship firm (Walter Thornhill & Co. on New Bond Street) by the 1870s, items bearing the dual Farthing & Thornhill mark are quite rare and can be pinpointed to circa 1859–1865
He won multiple prize medals at major World's Fairs, including the Great Exhibition of 1851 and several Paris Expositions. While Thornhill eventually went on to form the highly famous Walter Thornhill & Co. on New Bond Street, pieces bearing the combined Farthing & Thornhill mark capture a specific window of his early career at Cornhill.
