The maker of this handle has not been identified as the register of smallworkers from 1739 to 1757 is missing. Although the mark resemble that of John Barbe without the pellet below and in a slightly different shaped shield (see Grimwade no 1177) recorded as a large worker, it could also perhaps be that of John Barbot who described himself as 'goldsmith and jeweller of St Giles' in his will. (see Brian Beet, Foreign snuffbox makers in 18th Century London, The Silver Society Journal 14, 2002).

John Culme identified the initials IGB as almost certainly those of John Gawler Bridge, a nephew of John Bridge (1755-1834), co-founder of the royal goldsmiths, Rundell, Bridge & Rundell. John Gawler Bridge joined the firm in 1804, whose company name changed to Rundell, Bridge & Co after the death of John Bridge in 1834. Believed to have played the leading role among the younger generation at Rundell's, John Gawler Bridge, who died in 1849, left a considerable collection of objects which remained at the Bridge family home at Piddletrenthide, Dorset, until 1911.
John Gawler Bridge certainly owned several items of royal provenance which he bequeathed in his will dated 27 July 1849 to his two sons, John Edward Bridge and Henry Gawler Bridge, including his 'Best gold watch by Breguet which formerly belonged to His late Majesty King George the fourth; Also the Snuff Box given to me by His late Majesty King William the Fourth' and 'the Snuff Box made from the Piles of Old London Bridge given to me by Her Majesty Queen Victorian' (National Archives, PROB 11/2095). Furthermore the inventory of 'Sundry Jewels. Etc., at Windsor Castle, 16th September 1830' drawn up by Messrs. Bridge mentions on folio 42 '32 sticks with gold mounts etc.; 11 do. Common' of which 36 were sold to Rundell.