Surprise Sterling at the Historical Society Farm

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

My town’s 1830’s Historical Society Farmstead asked me to detect their back field as they are planning on leveling the ground here for a riding stable.



Got there at sun up as my kiddos day of soccer games started at 9:30. I wasn’t expecting too much here as it is on the far side of the property furthest from the old house, but they mowed it low for me and it was a beautiful morning.

Loads of trash, those old aluminum toothpaste tubes sound great.



Then I got a 36/37 tight, clean, deep and small signal.



Pat 1893 Sterling fancy spoon with a script G engraved, farm family name. Made my morning.

Here is the rest of the handful before they were preserved, bagged and tagged for the historical society archivist to put in their collection.



The farm just got a big grant to restore their spring house, pre dates the 1830 home. I’m looking forward to working with the archies on this again later this fall.

Good luck out there!

 

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[jewelerguy]

beautiful spoon

 

[michael NY]

you can do a hallmark search to locate the silversmith maker.

 

[Digger RJ]

Very Nice!!! Congrats!!!

 

[Steve in PA]

Nice spoon Thad. I bet they loved that one.

 

[JerV3]

Nice silver utensil Thad.

Man you hauled out some trash to get those keepers.

Sometimes that's how it goes. Was well worth the efforts.

Jer

 

[Red-Coat]

Cool spoon. It is Sterling silver, but those are pseudo English hallmarks, as used by Gorham in the USA.

English hallmarks would be impressed into the silver, not embossed as part of the casting, and the marks would be within shield cartouches. They’re intended to be (superficially) mistaken for Birmingham hallmarks via the use of the anchor, but the lion passant (for Sterling silver) is facing in the wrong direction. For an English hallmark that last letter would be the date letter, but it’s an upper case gothic ‘G’, which would be impossible for Birmingham since that would be 1830 (more than 60 years before the claimed Pat. Date of 1893). For Birmingham, 1893 would be a lower case gothic ‘t’.

This would be a Birmingham hallmark with upper case gothic G, and note also that it has the King’s head as a compulsory mark, indicating that duty has been paid:



The ‘G’ on your spoon actually just stands for ‘Gorham’. It doesn’t seem to be one of Gorham’s standard patterns and I suspect that it may be a souvenir/collector’s spoon produced for the World Fair ‘Chicago Exposition’ of 1893. Most of the leading silver manufacturers showcased their wares at the Fair and many of them produced ornate silver collectible spoons with that 1893 reference.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Nice collection of relics, congrats!

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

Cool spoon. It is Sterling silver, but those are pseudo English hallmarks, as used by Gorham in the USA.

English hallmarks would be impressed into the silver, not embossed as part of the casting, and the marks would be within shield cartouches. They’re intended to be (superficially) mistaken for Birmingham hallmarks via the use of the anchor, but the lion passant (for Sterling silver) is facing in the wrong direction. For an English hallmark that last letter would be the date letter, but it’s an upper case gothic ‘G’, which would be impossible for Birmingham since that would be 1830 (more than 60 years before the claimed Pat. Date of 1893). For Birmingham, 1893 would be a lower case gothic ‘t’.

This would be a Birmingham hallmark with upper case gothic G, and note also that it has the King’s head as a compulsory mark, indicating that duty has been paid:

View attachment 1865295

The ‘G’ on your spoon actually just stands for ‘Gorham’. It doesn’t seem to be one of Gorham’s standard patterns and I suspect that it may be a souvenir/collector’s spoon produced for the World Fair ‘Chicago Exposition’ of 1893. Most of the leading silver manufacturers showcased their wares at the Fair and many of them produced ornate silver collectible spoons with that 1893 reference.

Thx for the great insight Red Coat. I’ll share this information with the farm’s archivist. There was one other marking by the spoon bowl, not sure if the “U” has any special meaning.

 

[Red-Coat]

Thx for the great insight Red Coat. I’ll share this information with the farm’s archivist. There was one other marking by the spoon bowl, not sure if the “U” has any special meaning.

You're most welcome.

Gorham used their own system of sequential date letters, starting with ‘A’ in 1868 and ending with ‘Q’ in 1884 (they didn’t get as far as ‘U’) before they switched to using symbols instead of letters from 1885 onwards. However, they didn’t use this system for flatware or small items. Those may still have identification letters that mean something to Gorham, but not in a systematic way that enables them to be interpreted as a specific date.

 

[JeffInMass]

Some great finds in that group- that spoon is beautiful- Congrats!!

 

[cheffer]

That spoon is gorgeous, really nice find

 

[Trezurehunter]

Nice looking spoon. I like that dog tag and token also.