Well, the
Punch and Judy College of Professors say he's 352 years old!
(And no Jim, I'm not a member!!)
But he seems to have spent his first couple of centuries messing about with sausages and totally neglecting his tool-marking duties. I think that to properly date Mr Punch's first appearance on a tool, you'd need to consult the trademark registers held by the Sheffield Cutlers Company.
For a more accessible resource, there's a great little publication, put together in 1991 by Eileen Woodhead and published by the Canadian Parks Service! (And why shouldn't they be interested in Sheffield history? Apparently their archaelogists dig up old metal tools and cutlery on historic sites, and they need to know where and when they were made. I think it's very nice of them to have shared their reference notes. =D> )
You can download it from the Society for Historical Archaeology here:
http://www.sha.org/index.php/publications/cart/download/19495
It says, on page 253, that Mr Punch belonged to Turner, Naylor and Co Ltd, who were at Northern Tool Works, Sheffield from about 1850 to 1910.
The mark must have been older than its appearences in the following directories that the author consulted in compiling the guide:
1892 White's Hardware Trade Marks
1919 Register of the Trade Marks of the Cutlers Co of Sheffield
1974 Richard Washer: The Sheffield Bowie and Pocket-knife Makers 1825-1925
Related information: Turner Naylor and Co were acquired by Wm Marples and Son in 1876 - so use of the Mr Punch marks passed to them.
The whole story is probably more complicated than this, especially if you want to fit all the other Sorby names in, or distinguish between the different versions of it. But never mind that, here's a nice Turner, Naylor and Marples ad from 1889 showing that Mr Punch was, well, pleased as Punch with the new arrangements and his
I Sorby bag for life!!
