More Park Fun with British Silver and More

[oldmxrat]

Reasonable weather on Sunday (48 deg but no wind), so I went back to one of the parks I spent a short time at last week to see what else might be waiting for me.
I don't usually put trash in the finds picture, but there were a lot of bottle caps I'd never seen before, and kinda funny too. There were hundreds of bottle caps and I had to dig quite a few to clear the area. Even with the small coil it was insanely noisy. With all the beer caps in this part of the park, and the funny hops pin and plastic hops flower, I'm thinking there must have been a beer festival here. How did I miss that!? Anyway...

I gave it a hard look and in 4 hours managed to find:
-$5.28 in clad
-6 more 45LC shells
-a tiny bottle full of glitter (rang up like a dime)
-a tiny carabiner
-1 1/2 keys
-a BNC connector
-an eyeglass temple
-a hairpin
-some junk jewelry
-3 silver rings (925)
and a silver Celtic sword brooch.

The sword has British hallmarks, but they're very tiny and hard to discern. I believe the first is the rampart lion for sterling, and maybe the second is a castle for Glasgow. The third looks like it might be a rose? Any help is appreciated.

Okay, gotta go tackle some honey-dos so I can get back out there!

 

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[Florida Finder]

Reasonable weather on Sunday (48 deg but no wind), so I went back to one of the parks I spent a short time at last week to see what else might be waiting for me.
I don't usually put trash in the finds picture, but there were a lot of bottle caps I'd never seen before, and kinda funny too. There were hundreds of bottle caps and I had to dig quite a few to clear the area. Even with the small coil it was insanely noisy. With all the beer caps in this part of the park, and the funny hops pin and plastic hops flower, I'm thinking there must have been a beer festival here. How did I miss that!? Anyway...

I gave it a hard look and in 4 hours managed to find:
-$5.28 in clad
-6 more 45LC shells
-a tiny bottle full of glitter (rang up like a dime)
-a tiny carabiner
-1 1/2 keys
-a BNC connector
-an eyeglass temple
-a hairpin
-some junk jewelry
-3 silver rings (925)
and a silver Celtic sword brooch.
View attachment 2004104
View attachment 2004106

The sword has British hallmarks, but they're very tiny and hard to discern. I believe the first is the rampart lion for sterling, and maybe the second is a castle for Glasgow. The third looks like it might be a rose? Any help is appreciated.
View attachment 2004108

Okay, gotta go tackle some honey-dos so I can get back out there!

Nice finds! That sword is very cool!

 

[crashbandicoot]

Those are all cool!

 

[Relicific]

Very nice hunt

 

[Digger RJ]

Reasonable weather on Sunday (48 deg but no wind), so I went back to one of the parks I spent a short time at last week to see what else might be waiting for me.
I don't usually put trash in the finds picture, but there were a lot of bottle caps I'd never seen before, and kinda funny too. There were hundreds of bottle caps and I had to dig quite a few to clear the area. Even with the small coil it was insanely noisy. With all the beer caps in this part of the park, and the funny hops pin and plastic hops flower, I'm thinking there must have been a beer festival here. How did I miss that!? Anyway...

I gave it a hard look and in 4 hours managed to find:
-$5.28 in clad
-6 more 45LC shells
-a tiny bottle full of glitter (rang up like a dime)
-a tiny carabiner
-1 1/2 keys
-a BNC connector
-an eyeglass temple
-a hairpin
-some junk jewelry
-3 silver rings (925)
and a silver Celtic sword brooch.
View attachment 2004104
View attachment 2004106

The sword has British hallmarks, but they're very tiny and hard to discern. I believe the first is the rampart lion for sterling, and maybe the second is a castle for Glasgow. The third looks like it might be a rose? Any help is appreciated.
View attachment 2004108

Okay, gotta go tackle some honey-dos so I can get back out there!

Very Nice!!! Congrats!!!

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

Great finds - congrats !

 

[Red-Coat]

Interesting ‘Celtic’ sword item. I believe it to be a ‘kilt-pin’. They’re worn on the lower corner of the outer apron of the kilt to prevent it from flapping open and exposing the ‘family jewels’ (assuming the wearer has ‘gone commando’ in accordance with tradition). They function by adding a little weight to the bottom of the tartan and not by actually pinning the outer apron to the inner fabric where they overlap. Decorative ones, in addition to their functional purpose, were (still are) produced to be worn as brooches and popular as souvenirs of Scotland.

My guess – and it is only a guess – is that this is what is known as ‘Scottish Provincial Silver”. There were two assay offices in Scotland (Glasgow and Edinburgh) but your piece doesn’t have marks corresponding to either of those, and also doesn’t have a full hallmark set in that there is no date letter. Between 1784 and 1890 duty was imposed on silver presented to British assay offices for hallmarking and it became common practice for makers in Scotland to avoid that extra cost by not presenting their work for official assay.

Such pieces were marked (unofficially) only with the maker’s initials plus various symbols of a nationalistic nature or relating to the emblems associated with the town or region where they were made. They’re referred to as “town marked” rather than “duty marked” and are not well-documented because the makers often weren’t officially registered and the choice of symbols was subject to numerous variations.

Sorry for the poor picture, but compare your marks to the last three marks below which were used by John McGilvray & Son who had a workshop on the Inner Hebridean island of Iona and a retail outlet in the town of Oban on the west coast of the adjacent mainland.

I’m not suggesting that your piece was made by the McGilvrays… only that the town marks have some apparent similarities. I couldn’t find a provincial maker using the initials ‘MG’ but, as I said, provincial silver makers are poorly documented. Marks of this nature began to fizzle out after 1890 when duty was no longer payable on silver but continued to be used into the 1920s at least and I would think your piece is probably early 20th Century.

 

[JeffInMass]

Very nice assortment of finds- that sword pin and Red-Coat's ID- outstanding!

 

[oldmxrat]

Interesting ‘Celtic’ sword item. I believe it to be a ‘kilt-pin’. They’re worn on the lower corner of the outer apron of the kilt to prevent it from flapping open and exposing the ‘family jewels’ (assuming the wearer has ‘gone commando’ in accordance with tradition). They function by adding a little weight to the bottom of the tartan and not by actually pinning the outer apron to the inner fabric where they overlap. Decorative ones, in addition to their functional purpose, were (still are) produced to be worn as brooches and popular as souvenirs of Scotland.

My guess – and it is only a guess – is that this is what is known as ‘Scottish Provincial Silver”. There were two assay offices in Scotland (Glasgow and Edinburgh) but your piece doesn’t have marks corresponding to either of those, and also doesn’t have a full hallmark set in that there is no date letter. Between 1784 and 1890 duty was imposed on silver presented to British assay offices for hallmarking and it became common practice for makers in Scotland to avoid that extra cost by not presenting their work for official assay.

Such pieces were marked (unofficially) only with the maker’s initials plus various symbols of a nationalistic nature or relating to the emblems associated with the town or region where they were made. They’re referred to as “town marked” rather than “duty marked” and are not well-documented because the makers often weren’t officially registered and the choice of symbols was subject to numerous variations.

Sorry for the poor picture, but compare your marks to the last three marks below which were used by John McGilvray & Son who had a workshop on the Inner Hebridean island of Iona and a retail outlet in the town of Oban on the west coast of the adjacent mainland.

View attachment 2004288

I’m not suggesting that your piece was made by the McGilvrays… only that the town marks have some apparent similarities. I couldn’t kind a provincial maker using the initials ‘MG’ but, as I said, provincial silver makers are poorly documented. Marks of this nature began to fizzle out after 1890 when duty was no longer payable on silver but continued to be used into the 1920s at least and I would think your piece is probably early 20th Century.

Thanks for the insight RC, I really appreciate it!

 

[Hunk-a-lead]

Reasonable weather on Sunday (48 deg but no wind), so I went back to one of the parks I spent a short time at last week to see what else might be waiting for me.
I don't usually put trash in the finds picture, but there were a lot of bottle caps I'd never seen before, and kinda funny too. There were hundreds of bottle caps and I had to dig quite a few to clear the area. Even with the small coil it was insanely noisy. With all the beer caps in this part of the park, and the funny hops pin and plastic hops flower, I'm thinking there must have been a beer festival here. How did I miss that!? Anyway...

I gave it a hard look and in 4 hours managed to find:
-$5.28 in clad
-6 more 45LC shells
-a tiny bottle full of glitter (rang up like a dime)
-a tiny carabiner
-1 1/2 keys
-a BNC connector
-an eyeglass temple
-a hairpin
-some junk jewelry
-3 silver rings (925)
and a silver Celtic sword brooch.
View attachment 2004104
View attachment 2004106

The sword has British hallmarks, but they're very tiny and hard to discern. I believe the first is the rampart lion for sterling, and maybe the second is a castle for Glasgow. The third looks like it might be a rose? Any help is appreciated.
View attachment 2004108

Okay, gotta go tackle some honey-dos so I can get back out there!

nice haul and love that silver! especially the sword