8" Silverplate Serving Spoon

[jinnymaer]

This spoon was engraved with my father's initials, APB, when he was born and was in our house for as long as I can remember. It has always been in the condition that it is in currently so there has never been any doubt that it is silverplate, not sterling and there have been many attempts to 'decode' the marks on the back of the handle to no avail. What I am most interested in learning is the age of the spoon and where it was made. The spoon came from his mother's side of the family and they have been in Canada & the US for 3 or 4 hundred years so I started searching American marks first but have not had any luck. Any help and/or information would be greatly appreciated.

The first picture shows the marks on the back of the handle while the second shows the whole spoon.

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff5 ... -Marks.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://i1239.photobucket.com/albums/ff5 ... llView.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[user701]

The mark is for Francis Howard, Sheffield

http://www.925-1000.com/silverplate_H.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jinnymaer]

The mark is for Francis Howard, Sheffield

http://www.925-1000.com/silverplate_H.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thank you!! I thought that first letter was an 'E' not an 'F' but I'm surprised I missed the bullseye w arrow in their mark. Do you or does anyone happen to know what the 'A . 1' means? Is it a date mark?

Thank you again, I was really not expecting such a quick response!

[dognose]

Hi,

Welcome to the Forum.

The 'A1' is the supposed quality mark. It's fairly meaningless really as there was no outside control or regulation regarding the thickness of silver deposited by individual companies, but in this case you can take it to mean that it was Francis Howard's best quality.

Trev.

[jinnymaer]

Suppose I should have figured out the A1 myself but I wasn't thinking along those lines. Thanks again.