Freezing Cold...Frozen Ground...Scored!!!

romeo-1

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I started the day figuring I would give magnet fishing a try...but the recent freeze up took that option away so I decided to try to do some detecting. The plowed fields were no go because they were frozen solid and a jack hammer would have been required. The wooded areas were still diggable and so were the pastures so I decided to try a new pasture permission that I've only hunted once for a short hour.

The top two inches were frozen but I was able to make short work of that with "wonder shovel" but my fingers started to feel the first pings of frostbite after about 30 minutes. I only managed a musket ball and some scrap and was getting a bit discouraged when I got a decent albeit chippy signal. When I got through the plug I saw the bowl and pulled out the entire silver spoon!

The silversmith is Peter Nordbeck who was active in Halifax Nova Scotia from 1819 until 1861! He was a very renowned silversmith and pieces of his work are in museums in Canada and the UK! Very happy with this find and a great way to kick off 2017!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Nordbeck
 

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Upvote 38

RVRoamer73

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man, that is awesome !!!!!!!!!!
Congrats.
 

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romeo-1

romeo-1

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Thanks for the comments! Its rare for me to dig an entire silver spoon even though I've seen them dug by my hunting partner on more than one occasion. I'm all the more stoked because it's a local silversmith with a lot of history!
 

CRUSADER

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Yeap nice one with clear hallmarks.
It's been a long while since I've had a whole silver spoon of any date!
 

slawnchee21

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It's awesome that you were able to put the spoon to a maker. Amazing finds.
 

Rick (Nova Scotia)

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Man you are addicted, frost bite, jack hammers, and all.
Totally worth it for a nice piece of locally made Silver.

When I first saw the picture I thought the PN looked familiar in it's odd shaped box, and it is familiar
IMG_2098.JPG
its from a baby spoon I guess, and has the NS mark like it says in KIDDOs post. It's also nicely monogrammed.

Only 65 days of winter left.
 

K1DDO1979

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Man you are addicted, frost bite, jack hammers, and all.
Totally worth it for a nice piece of locally made Silver.

When I first saw the picture I thought the PN looked familiar in it's odd shaped box, and it is familiar
View attachment 1402751
its from a baby spoon I guess, and has the NS mark like it says in KIDDOs post. It's also nicely monogrammed.

Only 65 days of winter left.

You found that baby spoon piece Rick? Nice! [emoji106]
 

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romeo-1

romeo-1

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I only wish that Canada had been consistent with the hallmarks like the UK and other countries. I would have liked to have nailed a date down to this piece as opposed to a range.
 

montcalm

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Nice start in 2017 and id is great !Cong. i found only silver plated so fare..
 

MackinawGirl

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I am just getting ready to eat a bowl of cereal. Do you have a spoon I can borrow, my plastic one broke?
Nice find!
 

K1DDO1979

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I only wish that Canada had been consistent with the hallmarks like the UK and other countries. I would have liked to have nailed a date down to this piece as opposed to a range.

I've been reading all I could on the makers history and what I came up with (not 100%) but that your marks would be from 1820-1827 range and then Ricks baby spoon marks used after that. Seems most of his cutlery was made early before he started making more types of objects and was mostly plain designs. Later he made larger more fancy high end objects and his cutlery became more decorative. Also the king George iiii bust was only used on most silver until the kings death in 1830 so that helps also. Hope any of this info helps! [emoji2][emoji106]
 

ironhorse

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I like the way this thread went, it's got me thinking about all the silver spoons and the fragments that have stamps and engraving on them, I hope to research some of that someday and hopefully make a discovery like this!
 

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romeo-1

romeo-1

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I've been reading all I could on the makers history and what I came up with (not 100%) but that your marks would be from 1820-1827 range and then Ricks baby spoon marks used after that. Seems most of his cutlery was made early before he started making more types of objects and was mostly plain designs. Later he made larger more fancy high end objects and his cutlery became more decorative. Also the king George iiii bust was only used on most silver until the kings death in 1830 so that helps also. Hope any of this info helps! [emoji2][emoji106]

Great info...thanks man!
 

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