Rare 1870's "STATE LINE" ship fork

[K1DDO1979]

Rare 1870's "STATE LINE" ship fork

I was hunting another old property that goes along a old cove that had a lot of shipping activity in the past. When I first dug the fork I didn't think there was anything special about it so i shoved it in my bag. I thought the style looked familiar but couldn't place it. Later when I got home I noticed it had a name on it that I never heard of before. Then I realized why it was familiar. It was just like my old white star ship line spoon that came off the ss Atlantic disaster. It was made by Martin hall & co. of Sheffield England and probably dates around 1873 when most of the ships in the fleet were built. I guess it brought a lot of emigrants from the old world over to America. Why I think it's pretty rare is that there is not much info to be found online and I couldn't find any examples of cutlery from the ships at all. Here's a bit of info I found...

Anyone who can find any other info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for looking! [emoji2]

 

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[dirtdigginfool]

Very interesting! I love the out of the ordinary things that we find, especially when we can put a back story with it...thx for sharing...ddf

 

[BigWaveDave]

That's a sweet piece of history! Great find, Kiddo!
But I would rather find 73 silvers in a crazy coin spill.....yes, I remember....

 

[K1DDO1979]

That's a sweet piece of history! Great find, Kiddo!
But I would rather find 73 silvers in a crazy coin spill.....yes, I remember....

I do wish I was posting one of those again! Haha

 

[Gridwalker306]

Hey that's pretty cool. Always nice to find real silver silverware, but the info that goes with your piece makes it much more interesting.

 

[against the wind]

Very cool post,, probably from the First Class Dining Room.
I wonder how many pieces of cutlery were sort of borrowed but never returned.
Thanks for the post and Congrats.

 

[K1DDO1979]

Very cool post,, probably from the First Class Dining Room.
I wonder how many pieces of cutlery were sort of borrowed but never returned.
Thanks for the post and Congrats.

Thanks. I think only the first class on them type of old ships were the only ones to get to use the cutlery. Even though they were all plated I'm glad they were made the very best or they wouldn't have lasted so well in the ground. The "A1" on the spoon represents the highest quality and highest amount of silver used on the cutlery! [emoji2]

 

[gheenoe78]

That's a very cool and unusual find. Congrats!

 

[UnderMiner]

People have been pinching the silverware from hotels, ships, and restaurants longer than I thought, wonder if they pinched more back then compared to nowadays. Always see alot of airline and automat cutlery, not too much from old ships such as the one you have found here, very cool!

 

[A2coins]

Great piece of history thanks for sharing it with us !!!!

 

[trapperart]

Congrats great piece of history