Tarnished spoon found at a house burned 1864 with silver hallmarks?

[smokeythecat]

This one has me stumped. It's a mid 19th century spoon, I have the bowl and complete handle. The house was burned in 1864. It's the "fiddle back" style so popular in the first part of the 19th century. I thought it was brass at first, but the marks are fooling around with me.

That being said, the first mark is for "sterling", maybe, not sure about the rest and I don't see a letter mark for the year. Can anyone figure this one out?

 

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[Red-Coat]

I'm afraid the first mark is not for "sterling" and that's not a "hallmark" (if you mean a British silver hallmark). It looks like a pseudo-hallmark on base metal or silverplate and in that sense, there may not even be a date letter. I'm guessing it will be American.

I'll have a look to see if I can find the maker.

 

[smokeythecat]

I looked at several websites, but didn't look hard at the American makers. I'll try that.

 

[GoldieLocks]

Have you looked at German or Russian area marks? This has German marks
Hallmarks of German silver of 19th century

 

[smokeythecat]

I don't see the marks anywhere. I am convinced now it is not silver, it didn't look like silver, but, if it's the cheap kind, sometimes the copper can come to the surface. I did find a hammered coin on the site, the first one there. I THINK it started out life as a US trime, but became someone's art project.

 

[Red-Coat]

I still see these as pseudo hallmarks for something that isn’t silver. It was common practice for makers of plated and base metal flatware to put a bunch of fanciful marks on their goods such that an unwary buyer might, at first glance, believe them to be hallmarks. Various lion-like marks that aren’t ‘sterling’ lions plus shields, crowns and other emblems in forms similar to those seen on hallmarked silver.

I think the most obvious clue here is the fourth mark, which I perceive to be a crude representation of a British duty mark. Between 1784-1890, it was part of the compulsory hallmark set to prove that duty (tax) had been paid on hallmarked silver. Slightly different rules applied in Scotland and Ireland but, for England between those dates it was the monarch’s head in profile within an escutcheon. This one looks like it’s intended to resemble George III (or possibly George IV, but obviously not Victoria) and, as well as being a poor representation lacking any detail, the escutcheon is completely wrong.



British makers were smart enough to ensure sufficient differences from official silver hallmarks to avoid being prosecuted. American makers outside the clutches of British justice pushed the boundaries somewhat further. I would think the use of a duty mark (even in that fantasy form) would represent quite a push on the boundaries and is not something typically seen on British flatware with pseudo-hallmarks. That’s what leads me to think it’s American, although I couldn’t find the maker.