[CR]Is it ... a Georg Fisher BB shell?

(Example: Framebuilders:Mario Confente)

Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2007 16:29:56 -0700
From: "Dan Kehew" <dan.kehew@gmail.com>
To: "classic rendezvous" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: [CR]Is it ... a Georg Fisher BB shell?

Right, folks --

Not long ago I got a bit of education from Mark Bulgier, Bob Hovey, and assorted folks with better minds than I, regarding the realities of Georg Fisher sand-cast bottom bracket shells. Mark was good enough to post some nice shots of the sort of shell used on late-60s and early 70s Masis:

http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/FrameParts/GeorgFischerBBshell-0.jpg http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/FrameParts/GeorgFischerBBshell-1.jpg http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/FrameParts/GeorgFischerBBshell-2.jpg

New question generated by a frameset Robert St.Cyr picked up from Hilary Stone that I've been ogling here at the Bike Barn at UCDavis. The bike is a 1950s era "Pearson" touring frame. The serial number is on the rear of the shell, and on top of the shell is this stamp:

"?GF" in an oval. Sorry for lack of photo, but it's a black finish and not photographing clearly at all. The question mark represents a character we can't make out, but it doesn't look like a the plus-sign Swiss crosses on the photos above -- and the stamps above from the Masi-type shell aren't in an oval. Also, this is stamped on top, rather than below as on the Masi-type.

So: Still a Fisher? If so, did Fisher have other stamps beyond this and the +GF+ ? What is the first symbol? Does this provide a closer clue to the Pearson's age?

Fire away! Dan Kehew (w/Robert reading over my shoulder) at the Bike Barn, Cycling City, USA