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I have inherited a box of silver flatware from my English grandmother and have no idea if it is sterling silver or plated. There are two marks. The first is an HS mark over a star enclosed in a diamond shape. There is a shape above the HS but I can't identify what it is. Can you? The second mark is a lady's head facing right enclosed in a roundish square. I did a little research before posting and the HS mark is "not identified possibly Sheffield hallmark and French import mark". Hmmm...maybe French and I am in the wrong forum? My grandfather was French. Thank you so much in advance for providing any information on this flatware.

Hi,

Welcome to the Forum.

Please embed your images.

Trev.

Sorry but I cannot find the function that allows me to upload or imbed photos.

See: http://www.925-1000.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=42199

Good news! Your French flatware is 950 standard silver (higher grade than sterling), as shown by the Minerva head in an octagonal reserve. See here:
http://www.925-1000.com/Ffrench_marks.html

The maker is Henri Soufflot. See here for more info about this maker:
http://www.925-1000.com/Ffrench_makers_H.html

You don’t give dimensions, so it is not possible to say if this is a dinner service or a dessert service. The pattern is called Uniplat.

Hope this helps.

How exciting! Thank you for your reply. Now the question is "what to do with it?". It is such a odd set with 20 dinner forks, 11 salad forks, 10 large serving spoons and 8 soup spoons and 3 small spoons. Not in the best of shape either. Many pieces are bent.

My pleasure to help. From your description it sounds like you have a partial service, with dinner forks, place spoons (what you call serving spoons), dessert forks (what you call salad forks) and dessert spoons (you say soup spoons), and a few coffee spoons. Silver flatware can be repaired by a competent silversmith - your choice whether it is worth it to you to invest in preserving what has been a well used set. Good luck in your decision.