Large Silver Spoon - Lion Passant facing right

[maxiebaby0914]

I was out garage sailing and stopped in at a antique consignment store and purchased a large silver spoon for $7.00. The price tag on it read - "English Spoon". The back of spoon has a lion passant hallmark, however it's facing right. I did some research and found that the English silver lion passant always face left, except for Gorham. The only right facing lion passant I could find is in Dutch silver. I am not sure if this is Dutch though. There is a capital "H" next to the lion.
I believe the initials of maker's mark is - DMW . (I am not 100% positive on the middle initial M)
The front of spoon is inscribed in fancy cursive writing "Hermine" "August 11, 1871" . I have a few questions regarding the spoon that I hope you can help me with.
1) what country do you think this spoon was made in?
2) is it sterling or coin silver?
3) how old is the spoon? About what year?
4) is this a fiddle shell spoon?

Any other info would be appreciated..thanks

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[JimDon]

Interesting hallmark. Could it be Dutch?

 

[GibH]

A pseudo mark would be my guess. Many companies here and in Canada used similar.

 

[diggummup]

I agree with Gib. It's probably some type of Pseudo English hallmark. There are entire books dedicated to the subject. This isn't your mark but it is an example of a pseudo mark with a right facing lion- Leopard Antiques Antique Silver

 

[captain flintlock]

Great find!! It's early American coin silver with a pseudo mark. Probably 1830-1850 ish. Many New York makers used the reverse English lion. Definitely not English.

 

[captain flintlock]

It could possibly be Richard Huntington from Utica NY. The DMW is probably the engravers initials.

 

[diggummup]

It looks to me like those initials DMW have been stamped over some other marks.