James:
A best guess is that it was tested at the state proofhouse with 4 times the service load. I was hoping Jani or someone else would put us on tract.
If Ladislav Svestka of Praze and the Ladislav Svestka in Otto's New Age Encylopedia are one in the same, Ladislav Svestka was born in Mėsicich/Mėsice in the Tabora area/region in 1869 and it would appear he was a master by 1894 as his adverts begin to appear by 1896. Seems he either received training in Plzni/Pilsen, a city Southwest of Praze/Praha, or worked a stint there before moving to Praze/Praha. I would bet that he either passed thru Novotny, or some of the other Praze/Praha maker's shops before he hung out his own shingle. Seems he was a merchant and retailed many items including bicycles and other sporting oriented items. Another term associated with him is ruėnicemi and I haven't been able to crack the code on the term just yet. He expired in 1939.
Kind Regards,
Raimey
rse
