Please help identifying tray and spoon

[alcibiades4291]

Dear all,

Please first accept my apologies for the gross ignorance my post is about to demonstrate regarding silver markings. In trying to trace the ancestry of my great-grandfather who was born and raised in and around Middlesex/Essex 1888-1911 I have only a silver tray and spoon as physical evidence of his whereabouts and wondered if the engravings on these pieces might help me in my quest to determine where exactly he was born/grew up.







Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Kind regards,
Aaron

[dognose]

Hi Aaron,

Welcome to the Forum.

I don't think there's anything that you've shown that provides any clues to origins. To me, the engraved initials on the tray are 'CPS', and on the spoon, 'WMT' (upside down in your image).

If you post images of any hallmarks or other marks, that may help.

Trev.

[alcibiades4291]

Hi Trev,

Thanks so much for your swift response and help in delineating the precise letters displayed. I couldn't for the life of me make out the characters. My apologies for the upside down picture! I've attached a picture of the hallmarks on the spoon.Is it clear enough? I'm not in possession of the spoon and tray myself, they're in the care of my auntie who's sending me the pictures. If you need greater clarity I'll request a more focused image. Thanks again for your help!

[SteveDWollongong]

Hi Aaron,

The hallmarks on your spoon are somewhat difficult to read but they look like Exeter marks to me with the maker as Richard Ferris. The duty mark is not clipped and given Ferris was known to be working 1784 - 1812 my best guess as to when it was made is circa 1790 - 1800.

So the spoon predates your grandfather by about 90 - 100 years, so not a great deal of help there.

Cheers,
Steve

[alcibiades4291]

Hi Steve,

Thanks so much for identifying the marks. That's very interesting, though like you say, it doesn't help determining his origins, it's intriguing that the spoon originates from where he eventually settled after ww1. Thanks again Steve, I'm incredibly grateful.

Kind regards,
Aaron