Hello, I came to this old post after finding an image of a crisply marked electroplated spoon manufactured by Deykin & Sons. Sadly, the images in this post have been lost so these images may be of use here. There are other posts relating to Deykins on our Forum, touching on both hallmarked silver and plated ware.
In this first image we see the "D&S" and that "gondola" boat mark that is so common in "Deykin" (Deykin & Sons, Deykin & Harrison) trademarking. What struck me was the "PS" mark where you often see "EP", "BP", "GS" or even "NS". We recognise "Electroplated", "Britannia Plate", "German Silver" and "Nickel Silver" as methods or materials for manufacturing plated cutlery but what about "PS". It could be "plated silver" but, remembering the Deykin & Sons trade name "Prussian Silver" mentioned earlier in this post I think the "PS" indicates the spoon was made in “Prussian Silver”.
Here is another Prussian Silver image, possibly a similar mark to that already referenced by "I12spoon" earlier in this post.
It would be interesting to know with what quantities and of what metals the alloy Prussian Silver was made, as we could well be wondering if this was just German Silver under another name?
Here are some Deykin & Harrison marks showing their "Venetian Silver" trademark and the pictorial gondola mark.
Deykin & Sons were at Jennens Row, Birmingham and apparently at a "Venetian Works" (hence gondola mark?). They were producing plated cutlery from the mid 1850s but that written trademark "Venetian Silver" appears more associated with the later Deykin & Harrison concern who formed in the1890s and not with the earlier Deykin & Sons. You may wonder why I say “apparently” at a "Venetian Works". I checked up to 10 Commercial Directories from 1829-1912 and none gave the address of “Venetian Works”. They all said the address was Jennens Row with the earlier references giving 6 Jennens Row while much later references gave 1 to 6 Jennens Row. Obviously, an expanding company and a changing company. Before the mid 1850s when in the guise of “James & Wm. Henry Deykin” there was a gilt, plated and pearl button making company at 6 Jennens Row. By the time of the publishing of the 1858 General & Commercial Directory of Birmingham 2 businesses were listed at 6 Jennens Row:
......................James and Wm. Deykin, plated button mkrs,
.......................Deykin and Sons, mfrs of electro-plated German Silver spoons
Regarding “Venetian Works” I did find one primary reference in a British pattern registration record for Deykin & Sons, dated 1879 for that name. It would be interesting to know what address was on the 2 lost adverts 1876 and 81 posted by “dragonflywink” in her reply in this post.
Fishless
I have a few more directory references for "Deykin", but I will show them elsewhere on the Forum a bit later.
