help with georgian hallmarks

[david8]

can anyone help me with the maker on a ivory and silver butter knife, the makers name is rubbed but looks like g.u, thinking it was george unite but i think the date mark is 1825 and that is before george unite used his mark, can anyone help please

[silvermakersmarks]

You have a much better view of the hallmark than the rest of us, but I think that the date letter looks more like P for 1838 with the duty mark being the bust of William IV - although there's not a lot to go on. That would fit with George Unite.

Phil

[Aguest]

Sometimes I find that shining the light horizontally across the plane of the sterling silver surface will bring out the details better. Placing the light vertically directly above the hallmark sometimes does not work as well as shining the light in a horizontal fashion and then looking through a loupe. Does this make any sense?

Also, I was wondering if we could gather up a few pieces with rubbed hallmarks and take them to a scanning electron microscope and see if we would be able to read the hallmarks. I am trying to figure out a way to read hallmarks that have been rubbed out to the visible eye.

Am I the only person who has thought of this? Probably so.

[agphile]

I remember reading a research report a good few years ago which I think had experimented with this, with mixed results.
Indeed, I thought I had got hold of a copy but if so I cannot now find it.

Of course, memory may have failed and perhaps some other approach (uv light?) was being tried.