Help me identify this shoulder plane

[Phillip Ngan]

I spied this shoulder plane on a local site, and was wondering what it was (and how much I should pay for it). The blade is 1-1/4" wide, and it is made from brass and rosewood.

Thanks
Phillip (who now lives in NZ and misses my local LV store)
203596

[David Keller NC]

It's one of the many variations of craftsman-finished infill shoulder planes that were made in the UK in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The better known manufacturers were Norris, Spiers, Mathieson and Slater (Preston also sold infill planes, but it's not clear if they actually made them or subbed them out to the afore-mentioned firms). G. Miller was an independent maker whose shoulder planes are generally acknowledged to be the finest and most imaginative of antique makers among collectors, and the prices for a genuine, marked and original plane reflect that.

The plane you've pictured appears to have been patterned after the Norris #22, but there were many, many different rough castings available to the craftsman who cared to finish the plane himself in exchange for a steep discount. One clue to separate craftsman vs. professionally finished planes if they're brass or gunmetal is the presence/absence of a sweated-on steel sole. Most professionally-finished bronze planes would either have a dovetailed steel sole, or a thin steel sole brazed to the bronze casting.

[Phillip Ngan]

Thanks for the thorough reply David. The plane in question appears to not have a sweated-on sole, so it is probably a craftsman made plane. I already have a Record #72 shoulder plane, so I think that this infill plane would overlap quite a lot in terms of functionality.