www.925-1000.com

Exeter-hallmarked picture backs (excluding shells and flowers) are very rare indeed. I've seen one other: a double-headed eagle by Roger Berry Symons of Plymouth.

Miles

Excuse the typo in my last post.
I meant to write '5th July 1797' and not '1787'.

Miles

I agree, most likely a Richard Ferris mark, though not a size I can remember seeing before. However, he was the only RF working in this period.

Miles

Hi Matt,

I'm still none the wiser about BLJ.

Miles

Hi Matt, Almost certainly a mark for Joseph Hicks. As for dating, I think it will be between 1st January 1787 (when the Exeter Assay Office stopped using the incuse duty head) and 5th July 1787 (when the duty punch cartouche was altered to mark the doubling of duty). See Tony Dove's article in Silve...

Hello All, Regarding GF marks: as far as I can gather, George Ferris I ceased manufacturing in 1832 and turned to retailing in partnership with his son. George Ferris II never registered a mark of his own, so any GF will be that of the father. Regarding your spoon, I think the only part likely to ha...

Hi Paul and Trev, On the Exeter Assay Office copper plates (recording the makers/retailers who registered there), there are the marks of many large companies from as far afield as Ireland and Scotland. As you say, the most likely scenario is that the Williams firm was manufacturing for them and stam...

That's the incuse duty head - 1784-86.

Miles

Hmm! That's not an Exeter lion, and I don't think it's Newcastle either. That really leaves Chester and York, and I'd be inclined to choose the latter. However, I can't find a candidate matching those initials.

Miles

Correction: William Pearce died in 1806, not 1804. I like the theory, Trev. There isn't a mention in the assay books of a Pearce entering anything in 1821, but rules were a bit lax, and it wasn't unknown for the manufacturer's name to be entered in the book, and the retailer's mark to be stamped on ...

Very odd. William Pearce died in 1804, and that is his mark. In addition, I haven't come across anther WP maker in the West Country at the time that it could be.

A bit of a mystery!

Miles

Usually when IG appears on sugar nips, it's attributed to John Gorham, London, early/mid 18th century, though there is uncertainty about that attribution.

Miles

Very worn, but perhaps London 1763.

Miles

Best wishes to all Forum members.

Miles

Thank you, Bob. I've never come across an example of Byne's mark before.

Miles

Good to see you back, Waylander.

The maker's mark is similar to that of Antonio Portelli (AP in a shield with fleur-del-lis above), drawn in Denaro, 'The Goldsmiths of Malta and their Marks'. The 'date of mention' it gives is 1808, which is not impossible for your spoon.

Miles

It looks like one of those cases where a Hanoverian spoon has had the stem cut and resoldered the other way round to make it Old English pattern. The stem seems to have some file marks around where the date letter should be.

Miles

The marks do seem to be rather fishy. The lozenge maker's mark resembles that of Dinah Gamon, widow of John Gamon, who entered her mark in London in 1740.

Miles

Hi Matt,

Definitely Exeter hallmarks, and being a teaspoon there would be no date letter in this period. The P is most likely the second letter of William Pearce of Plymouth's mark. Your spoon was made c.1795.
The style of spoon is usually called Bright-cut transitional Old English pattern.

Miles

And another one, on a teaspoon.

Miles