assist with mark and function

[bubba]

Does anyone recognize the maker's mark on this piece?

What would the function of this unusual shaped piece be?


Picture Album with PicTiger

Thank you in advance for your comments and replies.
.

[SilverSurfer]

Looks like James Watts (I had the same question a while back). See this link:

http://www.925-1000.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6289" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The spoon appears to be a sugar sifter, used for sprinkling fine sugar over various deserts and such.

SS
.

[Granmaa]

I'm not very familiar with American flatware, but could it have been converted?

Miles
.

[SilverSurfer]

Miles, if by converted, you mean something akin to "berryizing", I don't know. This site lists Watts' working period as 1835-1850, the end of which seems to me to be somewhat early for this kind of twisted handle, serrated bowl edge type of work. But such froo-froo is typically later than the era in which I'm mainly interested, and I don't pay much attention to it, so I might well be wrong as to when it started coming into style. Essentially all the "berryizing" I remember seeing is on Brit spoons, usually on Old English or Hanoverian pattern, and was done, I think, in the later nineteenth century. I can't remember seeing it on American spoons, or even much on Brit Fiddle Pattern spoons. I don't think there was much "conversion" done on American spoons at all, certainly not like the amount of "berryizing" done on the Brit work.

SS
.

[Granmaa]

I didn't mean berrification; the holes in the bowl seem a bit incompatible with the spoon, especially since the bowl is fluted.

Miles
.

[Trefid]

I've seen a ton of James Watts flatware, and I've never seen holes in a shell-shaped bowl like that. I think they've been added so the sugar shell or preserve spoon could become a sugar sifter.
.