1890 Maltese/iron cross fob +

gforce1972

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May 3, 2012
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York, PA
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Whites DFX
My wife and I went out for a few hours today. Still hunting the old farmette in Harrisburg. Michelle found the Fob. Any help with the initials? Or what the T-handle tool might be?

Gary

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Upvote 17
Wow Gforce, no help here but man o man I LUV that Maltese styled cross! Great finds, keep hitting that place...Ddf
 

WHM? That's one piece of sweet silver history! Congrats
 

thats an awesome piece of silver you dug! I dont think its and iron cross, I couldnt find any examples from that period matching yours. However, it does look exactly like a firemans maltese cross. The initials could have been the owner or could be the dept (I cant really read them, so its all a guess) but I'm 99% certain its a piece of FD history.
 

Wow on the super sweet OLD silver cross!:o:love10::headbang: That piece is simply AMAZING! Mind blowing super way cool find of a lifetime for the top shelf treasure displays. Excellent score mate.:icon_salut:
 

Awesome find! Off the top of my head, the lion means it's English & maybe the anchor is for Birmingham? One other mark should be the date & The "RCM" the maker........You should be able to find all the info on the WWW........too late at night for me to check.

Iowa Dale
 

Awesome find! Off the top of my head, the lion means it's English & maybe the anchor is for Birmingham? One other mark should be the date & The "RCM" the maker........You should be able to find all the info on the WWW........too late at night for me to check.

Iowa Dale

Got that much figured out. Trying to decipher the script initials in the middle.
 

Got that much figured out. Trying to decipher the script initials in the middle.
I would bet it's just the owners initials......you will likely never know unless it's the former land owners (or wife's) initials...........
 

I thought that the lion was the sterling mark , RCM would be the makers mark , the letter is the date mark , and the monarch profile mark is a nod to the Monarch of the day , the anchor here is the city mark Birmingham ( as mentioned earlier) please set me straight if i am mistaken on any of this . Nice Find !
 

The script in the middle is a very old Calligraphy font and it is β€œWHM”


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Without looking up.the date letter, it certainly looks later Victorian to me (circa 1870's /80's)
 

Its a 'P', so Birmingham 1889, makes sense.

The owners initials have been correctly IDed as 'WHM'.

Looks like they don't know who the RCM maker was?? They have a record of a fob made by him in 1889 which ties up nicely.
 

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''T-handle tool''
(Should be 'I' shaped)

The broken brass object actually had another piece on the end, to mirror the other piece. Found loads of them, it's one of those things I forgotten the use of. But at least you know its incomplete.
 

Congrats to the wife for digging that sweet piece. :occasion14: Wow, that piece is simply awesome. :headbang:
 

Its a 'P', so Birmingham 1889, makes sense.

The owners initials have been correctly IDed as 'WHM'.

Looks like they don't know who the RCM maker was?? They have a record of a fob made by him in 1889 which ties up nicely.

Considering that this is decorated on both sides, it doesnt appear to be a badge (plus there is no mount or mounting location apparent). It would make sense that this could be a fob and the loop has broken off (hence why it was lost)
 

Considering that this is decorated on both sides, it doesnt appear to be a badge (plus there is no mount or mounting location apparent). It would make sense that this could be a fob and the loop has broken off (hence why it was lost)
Yes, basically fob watch bling.
 

It's strange that there's no write or history on the maker, I'm wondering if it was an import.

The referred info is at the bottom of link page

https://www.silvermakersmarks.co.uk/Makers/Birmingham-R.html#RC

That's the only site I checked, it might be in a book somewhere or the records lost. It's been assayed in Birmingham, I don't see any US import marks. But I think import marks were only used to prove/tax the purity of silver which this piece has already done.
 

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