George Hape Sterling Date Mark

[shub33]

Could anyone please help me to dat my George Hape sterling spoon? Thank you in advance.

[shub33]

Is it my imagination that the duty mark looks like King George III?

[silverly]

Is it my imagination that the duty mark looks like King George III?

Silver Jubilee of King George V.

[silvermakersmarks]

Assay year 1935/36 - and the maker is Harrison Brothers & Howson.

Phil

[dognose]

The item also appears to be struck with Irish import marks, but a sharper close-up is required to see more detail.

Trev.

[silvermakersmarks]

I have never been convinced that such a person as George Hape actually existed. I note that this site attributes a GH mark to him but, in my opinion, this is almost certainly the mark of Harrison Brothers & Howson with GH being the initials of the company's principal, George Howson. Hape does not appear in the Sheffield Assay Office Register by B W Watson published in 1911 which is a fairly comprehensive list of Sheffield silversmiths. There is no George Hape listed in an 1893 Sheffield Trades Directory, nor in a 1919 one and I cannot find a George Hape listed with a silver or gold related occupation in the 1891, 1901 or 1911 censuses. Can anybody throw any light on this anomaly? Where is the original reference for this attribution?

Phil

[dognose]

Hi Phil,

Thank you for your thoughts. The origins of the attributions are indeed a mystery and I can find nothing concrete regarding his existence, even though a lot people seem to think he did exist. This may be a case mis-information doing the circuit via the internet.

Do any members know anything more?

Trev.

[silverly]

Do any members know anything more?
Trev.

If a George Hape exists that was in the silver trade, he has done a superb job of alluding record keepers.

[shub33]

Thank you for all your expertise and responses.