Maker/year ID of 'London 1730' hallmarked spoon

[Cluster2k]

Hi?

Can anyone please ID these markings? It's a pretty banged up sterling silver spoon that was just labelled 'London 1730' without any other details. WO, WC, possibly another letter in the maker's hallmark. It's pretty worn. Lion passant is evident, but I cann't identify the other two markings.

Weight is 51g.

[MGArgent]

The date letter looks to me like it could be 1778.

If correct, there are at least 2 possible makers:
William Cattell
William Godfrey

[MGArgent]

Thank you for bringing this interesting piece to discuss.

The date is without a doubt 1778, and maker is almost certainly William Cattrell.

See marks from another spoon attributed to William Cattrell with a clear date letter of 1778.

You can see that both "WC" marks have:

• The same distinct notches in the outline over the "C"
• The same slope and notch in the outline to the left of the "W"

The WC mark on the other spoon has clearly been stamped overtop of another maker mark.

On your spoon, what you thought might be an additional letter is probably part of another maker's mark underneath.

It's difficult to see in your image due to the glare, but it appears you can just see the tip on the curl of the "C" for 1778

[MGArgent]

Somehow I managed to add an "r" into Cattell in my previous post.

It should read "William Cattell"

[Cluster2k]

Superb!

Thank you very much for your answer MGArgent, I was trying to find the right maker mark on silvermakersmark.co.uk and missed the right one as I was mislead by the 1730 date claim on the label.

I have recently begun to browse antique shops looking for interesting pieces of silver. I had been able to identify almost everything, until now. The hallmarks are rather worn and I wasn't sure what they were. I still have a lot of reading to do in regards to identification.

The photo was a bit glary but the 'C' date mark doesn't have any more detail even in the best light.

Once again, thank you.

[Cluster2k]

I have one last question regarding the spoon. The letters 'I M C' on the handle, do they mean anything? If it's not the maker of the spoon, then what is it?

[silvermakersmarks]

Excuse me for jumping in on this. Initials of that sort are normally considered to be celebrating a marriage. In this case between Mr I.... (or more likely Mr J...) and Miss C.... to become Mr & Mrs M......

Phil

[Cluster2k]

Thank you for that information, silvermakersmarks.