Need help with possible Frederick Marquand flatware

[Jackm220]

They are extraordinary heavy, averaging about 3 troy ounces per piece. The forks are oversized at 20.5 cm and the spoons can only be serving. B&R appears to be a store stamp for Brower & Rusher but I don't know what the B.G stands for nor can I positively identify the pseudo hallmarks as belonging to a particular silversmith.




What I did find was this:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.anc ... erick4.jpg

From this page here: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.anc ... /67822.htm

However now I'm up to three different makers/store marks being combined with the exact same set of pseudo-marks even down to the letter W. Does anyone know who actually made this silver? The quality of this is far superior to anything I've handled from the early 19th century and I'd like to know more.

[silverly]

Welcome to the forum. Baldwin Gardiner looks good for the B-G mark to me.

[Jackm220]

Thanks for that! That's a step forward and fits in with the other dates. I'm presuming 1830-1840.

However my bigger question is why there are so many different people using the exact same pseudomarks?

[WarrenKundis]

Good morning,

NY does seem to be a common link between Gardiner and Marquand although I did not check that detail for Brower & Rusher. May, may, be possible that Marquand was retailing his work through as many outlets as possible.

Warren

ps: was also recently thrown off by a teaspoon with a fiddle and thread pattern, pseudo marks, and of a heavier gauge than the normal coin silver flatware more commonly seen by me at least. See the coin silver thread J&I. Cox 1850.

W

[Jackm220]

Almost every piece of Marquand I've ever seen has these marks. A right facing lion, a pseudo assay mark, and a date(?) letter of some type.

Here's another one from the internets.



I wonder if this was just an agreed upon marking standard for New York during the period, if there's a guild of some sort, or if he just got around quite a bit.

[Jackm220]

I found these two on eBay today. Same exact three marks but counter stamped with someone else. One source suggested that the three pseudomarks are for Jacob Wood, which explains the W, but I can't find anything definitive on it.