On Tue, 30 Aug 2011 23:07:13 +0100, David Billington
wrote:

I was talking with an antique restorer I know here in the UK earlier
today and she was doing some upholstery with a very nice pair of
scissors. On close inspection they were made by Heinisch in Newark New
Jersey and appeared to be in very good condition. A brief search seems
to say that Heinisch was taken over by Wiss around 1915 so these
scissors are potentially quite old but in very good condition. She
acquired them from a house clearance sale some years ago. The earlier
search seemed to show that Wiss made scissors identical to the Heinisch
from the pics I found so maybe they kept on making the same tools with a
different makers name, that happens sometimes and other times the old
makers name is continued. Any ideas what happened in this case. Also I
have a set of Wiss aviation snips, is this the same company?.

That name sounded familiar. Shears like the bottom pair?
http://www.nedsim.com/news/Shears.JPG

The top pair, though not as impressive in their construction and
finish, are my favorites. I had never bothered to look them up before,
but found this reference. The shears are marked with the image of
Saturn with GENIUS underneath.
http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/File:Im...-Bly4.jpg#file

--
Ned Simmons