George Burrows is a well known name and very often people choose to attribute work to him. In fact it is not always as simple as that. George Burrows I entered his first mark as a small-worker on 14th December 1769 and entered a number of marks as a buckle-maker between 1780 and 1799. He was married to Alice and had a son, George Burrows II.
His son, George Burrows II was apprenticed to him and entered his first mark in partnership with his mother Alice Burrows in 1801, by which time we assume George Burrows I to have died. There are a number of pairs of sugar tongs marked with their mark GB over AB. George II and Alice were registered as Plate-workers but we know they produced a lot of silver sugar tongs and although George I was a buckle-maker most of the time it is also likely he produced a lot of silver sugar tongs.

Unfortunately there were a number of other makers around at that time with a maker's mark of "GB" who also produced silver sugar tongs so it is not always possible to distinguish between the marks.

Perhaps most interesting about George Burrows I is the range of maker’s marks. Shown below are examples of George Burrows I silver sugar tongs and a wide range of maker’s marks.

The other main sugar tong maker of this period with marks of "GB" is George Brasier - click here to see tongs by George Brasier

George Burrows I maker's marks are an interesting study. He is known to have registered a number of marks, two as a small-worker in 1769 & 1770, and at least eight as a buckle-maker between 1780 and 1799.

Click here to see a range of George Burrows I maker's marks seen on sugar tongs. Please be aware that there are a lot of pictures so it may take a while to load