Dognose Teaspoons, Maker's Marks Only, SP

[Bamunka]

Hi All,

Wondering if anyone can help with the maker of these teaspoons?

Each one is stamped 3 times with maker's mark only. Mark appears to be Sp, but stamp was apparently too large to fit on the stem.

I was thinking provincial, but so far I haven't been able to find anything.

Would be very grateful for any opinions or observations.

Thanks!

[Aguest]

Similar mark to "Thomas Spackman" so it might be of interest for you to look at the Spackman hallmark, you have the spoons in hand and you will be able to see the largest amount of detail (pics can't always capture the fine details of worn hallmarks), but Spackman was a London maker and not provincial, you would think these spoons would be by a provincial maker, but which provincial maker and from where?

I'm not sure what's going on here, provincial or "duty dodger" or ....?

[Bamunka]

Hi Aguest,

Thanks for your post.

I had actually considered Spackman, specifically the mark he entered in 1700. However I eventually discounted him for a couple of reasons. Firstly, because the font looks somewhat different (the vertical lines on the S are more pronounced). Secondly, because the other marks I have seen from him have been complete with duty marks etc. But maybe those two reasons aren't enough to discount him..?

Thanks again for your input!

[Aguest]

I agree, the font of the "S" is just slightly not correct when compared to his work, and I have owned Spackman in the past so that helps a little :::

It's strange, it's almost very precisely imitating Spackman's hallmark, very close to identical. You would have to hypothesize that whoever did these stamps was familiar with the hallmark of Spackman, it's just too close to the real hallmark. That would lead me to believe it is a deliberate forgery, but as usual I defer to the wisdom of the resident experts in the field of duty-dodging. :

[Aguest]

The other thing that you could determine is the metal content of the spoons. ::: With an XRF machine you would be able to know for sure if it is "Britannia Standard" or "Sterling Standard" so although that would be interesting, it might not help to solve the mystery, but I just thought of that. :::

[Bamunka]

It would definitely be nice to know whether or not they are Britannia standard in order to narrow things down a bit.

As you say it is very close to Spackman's hallmark and his mark is quite distinctive with the uppercase S and lowercase/offset p. Not really sure what to think now!