www.925-1000.com

Just found a small tray. Looking for assistance. Not sure which is silver standard and which is city mark.

Thought maybe this was a variation on a London mark around 1870s.
Thanks

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Hi Pauline

B B in a rectangle for Benjamin Barling, Lion Head Erased London hallmark for .9584 fineness, Britannia mark, London date letter for 1877, Duty mark (Victoria)

Regards

Oel
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Hi, found some more info about Benjamin Barling.
The firm was established in 1812 by Benjamin Barling who entered his first mark in 1815. The style of the firm was changed in 1851 (or before) to Benjamin Barling & Sons. The firm was managed by Edwin Barling and his brother William Barling. In 1955 the the firm was converted into a limited liability company as B.Barling & Sons Ltd and became a subsidiary of The Imperial Tobacco Group Ltd, trading from Liverpool.

Oel
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Hi,

Ah..hate to say it, but we have a difference of opinion. I think that is the mark of Barnabus Blackburn. The mark was entered by Blackburn in May 1875 from 4, Leicester Place, Leicester Square. He was a known supplier to Lamberts.

The firm was known as Barnabus Blackburn until 1892 when Blackburn entered into partnership with Peter Andrew Rasmussen and they were then known as Blackburn & Rasmussen.

Barling as far as I'm aware was a specialist pipe mounter and this presumably would account for why his firm was absorbed by Imperial Tobacco.

Let's see what others think.

Trev.
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Hello Pauline,
Perhaps the answer to who put the article to assay somewhat depends on what it might have been intended to be.
On first sight one can see why it might be taken to be an ash tray although the corners are usually more distinctive. Barlings were primarily tobacco pipe suppliers but are also recorded as making smoking related items such as vesta cases and cigar cutters so it isn’t beyond possibility they supplied ash trays as well; perhaps to Lambert & Co.
Blackburn is not recorded as being involved with smoking related items but is recorded as a supplier to Lambert & Co.
John Culme’s Directory on London Silversmiths (Vol. II page 27) shows images of the marks registered by Barling and Blackburn as quite similar, both being rectangular in shape with Roman capital letters. The corners on Barling's punch were the more rounded however. Unfortunately punches wear out with use. With Barling’s originally registered in 1852 and Blackburn’s in 1875 there is scope for more than one replacement punch being required. Although usually very similar to the registered original the replacement punches can be slightly different and more often than not the Assay Office isn’t asked to re-register them so what might have been differences between originals becomes less so with time.
For these reasons it is possible to see either Barling or Blackburn putting this item to assay but on balance my vote goes to Blackburn on the grounds that the tray isn’t clearly smoking related.
Best wishes,
Mike
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Hi to you all,

Congratulations to Dognose. I humbly stand corrected: Herewith the answer of the Library:

Dear Oel

Thank you for your email and images.

I have consulted a reference source in the Library by J.D. Culme entitled The directory of gold & silversmiths jewellers & allied traders 1838-1914 (Woodbridge, Antique Collectors’ Club, 1987, 2 vols., Vol. II, p.26) and am pleased to inform you that the maker you are researching is Barnabus Blackburn, a plateworker, who registered his mark in 1875.

With best wishes.

Raakhee

Raakhee Zaman
Library Secretary

thegoldsmiths.co.uk

Regards,
Oel
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