19thC Antique Toleware / Tin Half-Pint Grain / Corn Measure Stamped "Bryan Corcoran Ltd"

An evocative toleware (tinned sheet iron) half pint dry measure by the celebrated corn trade outfitters Bryan Corcoran Ltd of 31 Mark Lane, London, late 19th or early 20th century.

Of cylindrical form with reeded bands to rim and foot, angular strap handle, and a pouring lip to the rim, the front stamped "HALF PINT" and applied with the firm's oval brass trade plate. The rim bears an official crowned cypher verification seal in lead, struck by the Weights & Measures inspector to certify capacity — most likely of the George V period. 

The Corcoran dynasty was established in Mark Lane as millstone builders and millwrights by 1780, the street being the undisputed centre of the London corn trade and home to the Corn Exchange from 1828. Bryan Corcoran Ltd, the final incarnation of the firm, was set up in 1871 by Bryan Corcoran junior at no. 34 Mark Lane (later moving to no. 31) as brewsters' and maltsters' engineers, following the acrimonious split with Witt, who had bought the original family business and traded it separately as Bryan Corcoran, Witt & Co.

The founder died in 1915, but the limited company carried on well past him — the best evidence for how long comes from the malting industry record: French & Jupps at Stanstead Abbotts installed two Bryan Corcoran roasting cylinders in 1929, two more in 1931, and two further large ones in 1933 and 1934. So the firm was still an active plant manufacturer through the mid-1930s at least, trading from No. 31 as engineers and outfitters to the brewing, malting and corn trades, and measures such as this were the everyday tools of the corn factor — used for sampling grain sold by sample on the Exchange floor three times a week.

An honest, untouched example with a dry, mellow surface, entirely original construction, and superb documentary interest for the collector of measures, brewery bygones or City of London history.

Provenance: England. 19th-century.

Material: Tin, lead and brass.

Condition: Good, stable condition; light surface oxidation and rust spotting commensurate with age; old solder joints original; brass plate crisp.

Dimensions: Height: 4 in (10.25 cm).