www.925-1000.com

can anyone help me in the identifacation of this hallmark?
Thanks.



(photo edit by admin 5/16/05)
22 inch wide image?
Please review the Guidelines
.

According to Dr. John R. McGrew's invaluable new book, Manufacturers' Marks on American Coin Silver, Argyros Publications, Hanover, PA, your mark is that of a journeyman working in the Cleveland, Ohio area circa 1866. While the maker is yet to be identified, silver with this hallmark is known to have been retailed by Barrington & Davenport, Cleveland.
.
.

Hello John,

Welcome to the forum and thank you for posting the answer.
I've heard of the book and your post convinced me that it is time to acquire it. A web search yielded only its good review in Silver Magazine and a couple of sites using it as a reference. The search for the publisher was another dead end, so was its ISBN#0-9761453-0-8, and it is not carried by Amazon.com
Can you shed any light on how to get a copy?

Thanks, Tom
.

Good evening, Tom,
When I came across the request for help, I was in the midst of a search for information on another set of marks. However, the Eagle-T-Star was such a perfect match to the example in McGrew's book, that I had to stop and comment. As a newly registered participant, I wanted to share the resource, but didn't want to appear to be selling something. The book may be purchased directly from the author for $40 +$4 shipping at 355 Park Heights Blvd., Hanover PA 17331-4037.

The lay-out takes a bit of getting used to and consists almost entirely of good clear photographs of marks. Dr. McGrew is passionate (and probably a bit obsessive), in his pursuit of knowledge in a topic many of us have long felt needed serious study. I purchased two copies because when I have need of a book at my office, it is usually at home and vice versa. I consider it as important a resource as Rainwater and Kovel.

Best regards,
John
.

John,
Thank you for the information. I'm glad to have it and I'm sure others here are as well. Hope you will continue to contribute.
Tom
.

I am pleased to see a reference to this mark. I think it must be the same as this mark (I cannot tell since the photo in the original post no longer shows) on my set of coin silver spoons (see photos below). The initials on these spoons are "JW" which stand for Jane Wright, my ggggrandmother. Since this was her name before she married Thomas Zimmerman in 1840 or 1841 this would suggest a date for these spoons of before 1840 which is a bit earlier than the work of the journyman mentioned in the book of being around 1866. Could he have been working as much as 26 years earlier or might there be a predecessor owner of this mark? Jane Wright lived in Kingston, Ohio which is, of course, not far from Cleveland. The mark which is also on the spoons of "cowles" is probably Ralph Cowels who was in Cleveland around 1840, so the proximity of the journyman and the seller would make sense. I would appreciate any furthur insight into the origin of this mark. thanks for any help.

I think you have covered the information on this spoon as well as possible at least for now. Pseudo marks seem to be a subject that is going to stay open for some time to come. It may be fair to say that they are the marks of manufacturers or makers that wholesaled their goods and let the retailers put their identity on them so the ultimate consumers knew where to go when they were ready to make additional purchases.

If I'm not mistaken, marks such as yours are often credited to New York manufacturers. Eagle marks on their own seem to go along with Philadelphia makers, and beyond that I know very little about them. Anybody can stamp such marks on their goods and without good records that report such information, no one knows for sure where they originated.

As in your case, it is especially nice when there is a family connection.

Thank you for your response and your comments. I find it special to know the provenance of the piece. I have just renewed my interest in silver and so I am digging out some of the pieces like these which have been handed down. I have also begun collecting souvenir spoons - I had no idea of their history and beauty!

Here are additional photos of the same marks on coin silver. This will be my initial post to the forum and I hope it meets with everyone's approval.

These items have been in my family since their initial purchase. They bear the initials D.F. The F. would be for Ferrell, which also happens to be my middle name. The owners of these pieces would have resided in the Medina, Ohio region, very close to Cleveland. I do know that they moved to Shiloh, Ohio at some point. My great-grandfather moved from Ohio to Saginaw, Michigan where I currently reside.

There are several other antique sterling pieces of flatware that bear these same initials, one having the date engraved with the monogram of 1872. As I review the inventory, I may come across some other D.F. engraved dates as well.

My spoons do not bear any additional marks besides the eagle, T, stars. However, I do have another piece of hand hammers sterling with an identical star matched with another mark which I will be posting in the future, hopefully in the proper location.

Cleveland is a common denominator with these pieces - which fits the info from the book.

I've a set of 5 engraved demitasses with this mark, and next to the mark on all 5 pieces are the engraved dates "1874-1893". Either someone the spoons were made earlier as plain coin pieces and engraved later, or we'll have to revise this unknown maker's dates. Interestingly, the pseudo's punches look very worn, as if the die was coming to the end of its life. I would attach an image, but I'm computer illiterate--sorry.