London 1783 Spoon

[TreasureHunter333]

Hello, I’m new here. I signed up so that I could share a few photographs of a spoon I have, and hopefully get some thoughts about it. It’s been in family storage for a long time and was a gift to my mother sometime in the 1960s. I don’t know where it was purchased. The generic tag from the shop is still attached.

I’ve searched this forum and online trying to answer a few question, which has led me to further questions. This spoon seems not to have a “complete set” of hallmarks. The makers mark (initials) seems either to never have been stamped or possibly almost completely worn off (see my red arrow in last image below).

Any speculation and/or information about either of those two possibilities would be great.

Also, any comments on the “water wheel” symbol on the front of the spoon handle would be interesting. Thanks. See images below:

[TreasureHunter333]

Hello, I’m new here. I signed up so that I could share a few photographs of a spoon I have, and hopefully get some thoughts about it. It’s been in family storage for a long time and was a gift to my mother sometime in the 1960s. I don’t know where it was purchased. The generic tag from the shop is still attached.

I’ve searched this forum and online trying to answer a few question, which has led me to further questions. This spoon seems not to have a “complete set” of hallmarks. The makers mark (initials) seems either to never have been stamped or possibly almost completely worn off (see my red arrow in last image below).

Any speculation and/or information about either of those two possibilities would be great.

Also, any comments on the “water wheel” symbol on the front of the spoon handle would be interesting. Thanks. See images below:

[TreasureHunter333]

Oops, duplicate post.

[Sasropakis]

The maker's mark has probably just worn due to polishing and maybe it was initially also struck poorly. It's impossible to know the maker because spoons are the most common type of silverware. All other marks are there except the duty mark (soveraign's head) because it was introduced in 1784 and therefore can't be found in a spoon from 1783.

The wheel symbol is called a crest and it's a heraldic symbol of the family who were the original owners of spoon. Luckily the crest in question is not that generic and I found a match in Fairbairn's book of crests:

"Fell, Northumb., a catherine-wheel en- signed on the top with a cross patee fitched or. 167. 3"

See: https://archive.org/details/fairbairnsb ... 5/mode/2up and https://archive.org/details/fairbairnsb ... 6/mode/2up

Of course one can't see the colours in the spoon and it's possible that there could have been similar crest but with different colours than the one of the Fell family.

[TreasureHunter333]

The maker's mark has probably just worn due to polishing and maybe it was initially also struck poorly. It's impossible to know the maker because spoons are the most common type of silverware. All other marks are there except the duty mark (soveraign's head) because it was introduced in 1784 and therefore can't be found in a spoon from 1783.

The wheel symbol is called a crest and it's a heraldic symbol of the family who were the original owners of spoon. Luckily the crest in question is not that generic and I found a match in Fairbairn's book of crests:

"Fell, Northumb., a catherine-wheel en- signed on the top with a cross patee fitched or. 167. 3"

See: https://archive.org/details/fairbairnsb ... 5/mode/2up and https://archive.org/details/fairbairnsb ... 6/mode/2up

Of course one can't see the colours in the spoon and it's possible that there could have been similar crest but with different colours than the one of the Fell family.

——

Thank you very much! Very interesting detail and great source. I’ll bookmark the Fairbairn’s book.

[Aguest]

I've seen very faint marks + marks obliterated + marks overstamped by another maker all in the silver objects of Hester Bateman, if you have the spoon in hand and you are able to identify any detail of the "HB" in cursive then you might be on the right track :::: Sometimes you can rotate the object under a light source shined at an angle and details can be revealed ::::: Having the object in hand is always better than looking at pictures on a computer screen, and it may be an impossible task to identify any details of the "HB" hallmark for Hester Bateman, but given the many examples I have seen with faint/obliterated/overstamped hallmarks the one silversmith I would have to think about would be Hester Bateman. ::::: On the computer screen it does seem like a hopeless case as mentioned previously. :

[TreasureHunter333]

Thank you Aguest, for your comments and Hester Bateman suggestion. I’ve looked over the spoon with a 10x loop and don’t see much more than shown in the photos. There definitely seems to be a fairly deep small remnant of a mark leading the other three visible marks (where I point the red arrow), but nothing else that would help identify who the maker might have been.