UnderMiner
Silver Member
- Jul 27, 2014
- 3,806
- 9,697
- 🥇 Banner finds
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- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Excalibur II, Ace 250
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
The three silver spoons I found today:
I salvaged many piece of discarded flatware from the garbage today. The first significant find that I dug out is a relatively modern 92.5% Sterling Silver salt spoon made by International Sterling - it weighs 18.5 grams.
There weren't really that many good pieces of flatware in the mix, most were plated modern junk - but besides the sterling spoon - two other spoons stood out to me. They were not clearly labeled as being silver but I knew they had to be silver just by their sheer good quality and beauty. So I took them inside and looked up the mysterious markings stamped on them. I was surprised beyond measure by what I discovered.
The spoons were made by an old New York silver company called "Wood & Hughes" which only operated in New York City from the 1840's to the 1890's and who only worked in 90% coin silver! I looked up the company in a silver database and boom - there was the pattern - it's called "Fan Pattern - 1864". Their company made 15 flatware patterns in its lifetime - its first in 1855 and last in 1893 - this was their 2nd pattern - made in 1864! It was their only flatware pattern to be patented during the Civil War and their only one patented in the 1860's overall.
The Fan Pattern coin silver spoons:
The Wood & Hughes spoons that I found are 21.2 grams and 21.6 grams each in weight - for a combined total of 42.8 grams of 90% pure American coin silver! This was from the time before Sterling Silver was widely used in America. To add more excitement to the find is the fact that they are both monogrammed with the initials "E.L.F." These are the initials of someone from the time the spoons were first made - back in 1860's New York City! Maybe I will be able to determine the original owner using these initials by comparing them to those of wealthy people from 1860's New York.
Monogram on back of spoon's fan pattern - "ELF":
"The Trader - February 1900. —Henry Wood, one of the oldest silversmiths in New York, the senior member of Wood & Hughes, of 24 John Street, died suddenly recently at his residence in Red Bank, N.J. His death was due to apoplexy, and was unexpected. He had been suffering a long time of optical hemorrhages, but otherwise, with the exception of a slight illness two weeks ago, his health had been good. One night he appeared restless and finally, about midnight, went to bed. An apoplectic paroxysm began soon afterward, and he died about one o'clock."
I salvaged many piece of discarded flatware from the garbage today. The first significant find that I dug out is a relatively modern 92.5% Sterling Silver salt spoon made by International Sterling - it weighs 18.5 grams.
There weren't really that many good pieces of flatware in the mix, most were plated modern junk - but besides the sterling spoon - two other spoons stood out to me. They were not clearly labeled as being silver but I knew they had to be silver just by their sheer good quality and beauty. So I took them inside and looked up the mysterious markings stamped on them. I was surprised beyond measure by what I discovered.
The spoons were made by an old New York silver company called "Wood & Hughes" which only operated in New York City from the 1840's to the 1890's and who only worked in 90% coin silver! I looked up the company in a silver database and boom - there was the pattern - it's called "Fan Pattern - 1864". Their company made 15 flatware patterns in its lifetime - its first in 1855 and last in 1893 - this was their 2nd pattern - made in 1864! It was their only flatware pattern to be patented during the Civil War and their only one patented in the 1860's overall.
The Fan Pattern coin silver spoons:
The Wood & Hughes spoons that I found are 21.2 grams and 21.6 grams each in weight - for a combined total of 42.8 grams of 90% pure American coin silver! This was from the time before Sterling Silver was widely used in America. To add more excitement to the find is the fact that they are both monogrammed with the initials "E.L.F." These are the initials of someone from the time the spoons were first made - back in 1860's New York City! Maybe I will be able to determine the original owner using these initials by comparing them to those of wealthy people from 1860's New York.
Monogram on back of spoon's fan pattern - "ELF":
"The Trader - February 1900. —Henry Wood, one of the oldest silversmiths in New York, the senior member of Wood & Hughes, of 24 John Street, died suddenly recently at his residence in Red Bank, N.J. His death was due to apoplexy, and was unexpected. He had been suffering a long time of optical hemorrhages, but otherwise, with the exception of a slight illness two weeks ago, his health had been good. One night he appeared restless and finally, about midnight, went to bed. An apoplectic paroxysm began soon afterward, and he died about one o'clock."
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