A gold-handled walking cane, Mark Thomegay, London, 1770

For three further gold cane handles, maker's mark of Mark Thomegay, two dated 1777 and one apparently 1780, see Christie's London, 9 January 1996, lot 235; Phillips London, 9 April 2001, lot 61 and Bonham's London, 29 November 2002, lot 474.

Mark Thomegay (originally of the Geneva Thomeguex family) was apprenticed for 7 years to Richard Clark, Needlemaker, on 23 January 1760. His first mark, however, as smallworker was entered from Middle Moorfields on 10 September 1763 with a second mark from the same address in 1770. Mark Thomegay and Son (also Mark) are recorded as having been prosecuted the same year by the Goldsmiths' Company for 'making gold watch chains worse than standard' but presumably carried on in business as they appear as partners in various trade directories between 1772 and 1777. The will of Mark Thomegay, then of Tottenham, Middlesex, signed in November and proved in December 1779, shows that they were in a considerable line of business and much concern is given to the establishment of a new partnership between Mark the son and his younger brother Richard, who had been apprenticed to Nicholas Biggs as goldsmith in 1776. Whether this worked on not, there is a hiatus in the Directory entries until Mark Thomegay appears alone in 1789-1791 still at 12 Middle Moorfields.