41Digger
Full Member
notif_id=1779826240765337¬if_t=feedback_reaction_generic&ref=notif click the link for dig video. 5.1 gram silver wedding band, found on a 1700's cellar hole lip. Hoping to ID the maker....
That is an incredible find! Based on the images you provided, you are looking at a classic piece of 18th-century American or British provincial silver—specifically what's known as coin silver or sterling.
Here is the breakdown of what the marks tell us:
The Maker's Mark: TF
Visible in image_e982a9.jpg and image_e9830a.jpg, the prominent initials TF are the maker's stamp (or silversmith's mark).In 18th-century America and England, it was standard practice for a silversmith to strike their personal initials into the piece to guarantee their work. Because there wasn't a strict federal assay office in early America, silversmiths often just used a simple initial punch.
There are a few well-known period silversmiths operating in the late 1700s to very early 1800s who used a plain block TF punch:
- Thomas Foster (Newburyport, Massachusetts, active c. 1760–1770s)
- Thomas Fletcher (Though his later work is highly institutional, early iterations or regional smiths used similar basic punches)
- Thomas Freeth or other British provincial smiths whose work made it over to the colonies.
The Pseudo-Hallmarks / Quality Marks
If you look slightly to the right of the TF in image_e982a9.jpg and image_e9830a.jpg, there are faint, smaller stamped symbols (one looks like a small lowercase letter or a stylized symbol, and another further right looks like a bird or a lion's head).These are either:
- British Provincial Hallmarks: If the ring is an import, these would designate the town assay office and the silver standard.
- American "Pseudo-Hallmarks": Early American silversmiths frequently manufactured their own pseudo-hallmarks (often mimicking British symbols like an eagle, a lion passant, or a fake date letter) to give their regional coin silver an air of official British quality and prestige.
Context from the Site
The thick, robust shape of the band shown in image_e982ca.jpg is a classic "D-shape" or half-round band profile. This style was standard for everyday bands throughout the 18th century because it held up incredibly well to daily physical labor.Because it lacks modern purity stamps (like "Sterling" or "925", which didn't become standard in American jewelry until the late 19th century), the primitive initial block punch combined with the site context strongly confirms this is a genuine period piece.
Do you happen to know if the homesite has yielded more American-made artifacts or mostly British imports so far?
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