Hi all:

Perhaps a member has knowledge of the following:
Were there markings on Jewish headstones that identify who the stonecutters were?
Many thanks in advance.

Jacquie

Jacqueline GRUSZECKI
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Researching IUZIS and POPPEL/POPEL/POPIL
from Dorohoi, București, Herța and Panciu

As a regular contributor to tombstone translations on JewishGen's Viewmate (there are more than 7,000 examples) I have seen most of them.  I don't remember ever having seen one.  

David Rosen
Boston, MA

Here in Melbourne, Australia it is common practice for the stone mason to leave a small plaque with his contact details in a discreet place on the tombstone. Usually in the lower corner of the plinth or base of the setting that surrounds the grave.

Geoffrey Ackerman

Jacquie asked "Were there markings on Jewish headstones that identify who the stonecutters were?"
The answer has to be "sometimes".

Some Jewish headstones have markings identifying the stonemason. It is common in some cemeteries, in some periods, but it is not a universal practice. It may be more a matter of the business practices of the (usually non-jewish) stonemason than anything else.
Looking at my photos from one of the Jewish sections of St Kilda Cemetery here in Melbourne, I can see several stones with the stone mason identified either by a little metal plaque or a small engraving.

Rodney Eisfelder
Melbourne, Australia

I have a number of family members buried in a cemetery in Hungary and several of them had the stone cutter's name at the bottom of the stone. These were from the early to mid 1800s.

Alex Skolnick
Pennsylvania
Hungary: RIGOCZ, KASTRINER, GLEICH, JAKUBOVICS

One matseva in the cemetery in Jodłowa, Poland (southeast of Tarnów) bears in small Hebrew letters the inscribed name and town of the stonecutter, H. Hojfmeister, Tarnow. He is listed in the Tarnów business directory of that time period (approximately 1930). It can be seen in the attached photo.

Russ Maurer
Pepper Pike Ohio

And here is one from Hungary, my great-grandfather died in 1929, marked on the bottom "Schreiber Debreceen".

I've also seen such inscriptions on a few tombstones I translated on JewishGen's Viewmate.

Yitschok Margareten 

I have photos of the headstone for my great-grandfather's first wife, Tillie Peiser, in Gates of Prayer Canal Street Cemetery in New Orleans, LA which show a mark for the stonecutter. The stone is signed “Reynolds” at the lower right. James Reynolds and his family were prominent in the building arts in 19th century New Orleans. He was an active stonecutter from 1866 to 1880, with a shop on Poydras Street. His signature on a Jewish tombstone is considered unusual.

George Friedman
Champaign, IL, USA