1783 sterling silver teaspoon...

K1DDO1979

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East coast Canada
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Minelab equinox 800, Fisher F75 Ltd SE 2 & Fisher F2 with 11"DD
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Im very happy with my first hunt of 2018. We had a January thaw and the ground was soft enough to dig in most spots close to the ocean. My buddy dug a george iii british half penny and a nice british navy commander anchor button before i got there. It was a spot we hit before and found loads of late 1700’s to early 1800’s large coppers. Hits were very few and far between but then i dug a very worn and black silver vicky dime. Maybe if I’m lucky ill get a date later. After that i eyeballed a nice old marble at low tide. The find of the day and year so far is my second Georgian era british sterling silver spoon. Its super tarnished black but thats fine with me. When i first dug it i thought it was a copper spoon until i seen the lion and knew what i had. I did a quick look and found the small h date letter matched london 1783 and also had this info on sterling teaspoon...
“Teaspoons (as are all small spoons and tongs) hallmarked by the London assay office are not full marked until 1821. The main reason for this was the lack of space on the spoon stem or terminal. The methods of marking were as follows:-
Pre 1781 - Bottom-marked with only 2 hallmarks (lion passant & Maker). Their date of manufacture can be estimated by their style and where possible from the working period of the silversmith. Early 18th Century teaspoons may only be marked with a maker's mark or sometimes none at all.
1781 - 1784 Three top-marked stamps; lion passant, maker and date letter (i.e. no leopards head crowned)
1784 - 1820 Four top-marked stamps; lion passant, maker, date letter and* duty mark (i.e. still no leopards head crowned).
1821 onwards A complete set of hallmarks in line with other silver articles.”
Im not sure who the maker is yet but I’m sure i will find out. Thanks for looking! [emoji2][emoji106]
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Upvote 33
While I was indoors and actually reading up on 1600-1800 cutlery today,you got out and found
A nice old silver teaspoon.
Would be cool to see it cleaned up.
Nice hunt
 

Great job, congrats
 

awsome repost when you shine her up really. niice find
 

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Congrats. I love that old silverware.
 

Always love digging silver spoons....wtg
 

Awesome find, congratulations! :occasion14:
 

Congratulations on that silver spoon! I love silver spoons especially that old. If you clean it put a pic up.
 

Congratulations on that silver spoon! I love silver spoons especially that old. If you clean it put a pic up.

I was thinking trying the boiling water/ tin foil/baking soda trick at some point soon. I should chuck that vicky dime in too if it works! [emoji2]
 

Congrats. Dont see many, if any, early silver spoons on here
 

I was thinking trying the boiling water/ tin foil/baking soda trick at some point soon. I should chuck that vicky dime in too if it works! [emoji2]

I hear that I would. I wonder what’s the best method? I found at 1911 baby curl handle silver spoon with hand etching “hey diddle diddle” with a cow jumping over a moon and one that tarnished like yours but NO WHERE NEAR as old as yours. If you want me to do mine first I will, so you’ll know if it works good or not. Your spoon is something special don’t ruin it! Can you hand polish old silver spoons. I’d do that coin for sure. Lol
 

That is a wonderful find ! I too would like to see the cleaned up pic .
 

Sweet Sterling Spoon.
Try rubbing that spoon with toothpaste.
Paste not gel. There are companies that will purchase old silverware like yours.
Congratulations on your finds.
 

The maker of the spoon is most likely the silversmith John Lambe. His initial stamp marks fits the timeline of the spoon perfect. Why he used “IL” and not “JL” is anyones guess! HaHa
 

The maker of the spoon is most likely the silversmith John Lambe. His initial stamp marks fits the timeline of the spoon perfect. Why he used “IL” and not “JL” is anyones guess! HaHa
'I' was commonly used as a 'J' in the old alphabet. (going way back, it used to be a crossed I)
 

I don't agree this is 1783, the shape of the date letter stamp doesn't fit. Without the assayer mark it makes it hard to work out the makers mark, so more research is needed.
 

I rarely ever try to clean my silver finds. I decided to give it a go on the spoon and man it took a lot of time to clean. The black tarnish was incredibly stubborn to get off. I did multiple baking soda tricks multiple times. I went as far as i want to go and i think it turned out well. Feel free to say if you agree or disagree with the cleaning idea. I guess no going back now. Thanks for looking! [emoji2][emoji106]
Before...
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After...
ImageUploadedByTreasureNet.com1516058620.767610.webpImageUploadedByTreasureNet.com1516058631.873628.webpImageUploadedByTreasureNet.com1516058647.939861.webpImageUploadedByTreasureNet.com1516058661.859014.webpImageUploadedByTreasureNet.com1516058683.125750.webpImageUploadedByTreasureNet.com1516058697.263965.webp
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Last edited:
Found this one that looks a little closer...
ImageUploadedByTreasureNet.com1516067072.988236.webp
 

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