Fun little hunt! 19th century silver spoon, fork (help with age), flat buttons and a

[JerseyDigger19]

Hit one of my favorite sites which seemed like it was getting hunted out and it turned out to be an awesome day. Found 4 flat buttons, two with decorations, a silver spoon which turned out to have the backmark WM. I. TENNEY dating it from 1828 to 1848, a Buffalo nickel and what looks like an old iron fork. So happy to hit big silver even if it's a spoon! Could anyone help out with the approximate age of the fork? Thanks!

 

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[Bill D. (VA)]

Your 2-tined iron fork was of a design used throughout the 1700s and into the very early 1800s. You should be able to clean it up using electrolysis. Nice early find probably from the same period as some of your buttons. Here's a couple examples of similar ones I've recovered, although mine are likely a bit earlier than yours based on the context in which they were found. BTW - what is that silver coin or button in the first pic?

 

[Trezurehunter]

Very nice finds.

 

[Argentium]

Silver Spoons are a special find ! Silver is a very malleable metal , and it can be restored to it's former glory - I would take it
to a Silversmith and have it done - it's an important enough find to warrant this I think !

 

[UnderMiner]

Love the spoon! That's a very nice find. You can restore it quite easily, shine it up, and use it as if 160+ years had no effect on its elegance.
This is the best thing about silver and gold, they tend to maintain their beauty and integrity throughout the ages.

 

[Garrett424]

Cool finds. I like all of them.

I was recently reading that at one time, not so long ago, the use of forks was actually frowned upon and considered "frivolous" and barbaric.

Once fork use was socially accepted the two prong fork was the most common before the 4 prong came into general use.