www.925-1000.com

I have never seen Gould Stowell & Ward to have silver plate hallmarks, but this doesn't match any of the coin silver hallmarks I have seen either....

Are the three marks from another manufacturer of coin silver and this was just retailed by Gould Stowell & Ward

:::: Are the 3-hallmarks just heavily worn "Eagle-U-Shield" for Bailey & Company? ::::: The hallmarks are so worn I can't tell ::::::

They look like this set of pseudo marks to me:

:::: Taylor & Lawrie might be the origin of the hallmarks, Bailey & Co sourced silver from Taylor & Lawrie? So why not Gould Stowell & Ward too? :::::
:::: And there might be other pseudo-hallmarks out there that are imitative of either Bailey & Co or Taylor & Lawrie? :::::

To answer your initial question, yes. Gould, Stowell & Ward were watchmakers and merchant jewelers, buying in silver goods from wholesale makers. The firm only existed from 1855 to February 1857, when Abel Stowell left to open his own shop.

::::: We are trying to identify the 3 little hallmarks in the 3 little squares. ::::
::::: Hopefully there is knowledge of Taylor & Lawrie out there somewhere. ::::

Are you saying the three marks on your spoon do not match the ones Silverly posted, which are the well-established wholesale marks of Taylor & Lawrie?

:::: The cartouche of the eagle looks different so this could be imitating Taylor & Lawrie Hallmarks. ::::

:::: Or, perhaps the marks shown by Silverly are early hallmarks circa 1840 and my hallmarks are from a second generation of hallmarks since Gould Stowell & Ward only existed from 1855-1858? :::::

::::: I'm really not sure if Taylor & Lawrie lasted throughout the 1850s since I can't find any reference to this fact, nor the date when the firm dissolved, but I guess Taylor & Lawrie did survive 1855-1858 since this spoon exists? :::::

:::: The hallmark identification would go something like this, someone posts 3 tiny hallmarks in squares, and then someone else who possesses extensive knowledge would reply and type out "I think those hallmarks look like Taylor & Lawrie" or "I think those hallmarks look like Bailey & Co" or maybe there were other companies who were imitating the hallmarks of Taylor & Lawrie? :::::

::::: But instead, after many false starts and dead-ends, I finally stumbled upon an obsolete forum which helps people learn about Taylor & Lawrie ::

:::: It really wasn't easy to figure this out on my own since I thought the hallmarks were so close to Bailey & Co (or a company imitating the hallmarks of Bailey & Co.) until I stumbled upon the manufacturing firm of Taylor & Lawrie :::::

:::: Once again, if anybody wants to actually discuss Taylor & Lawrie, feel free to reply, the replies should be only about Taylor & Lawrie at this point. ::

Per Hollan's Philadelphia
Established in 1837. The 1850 Mercantile Census reported they were making $35,000 worth of silverware a year. They established a larger factory in 1852 and continued producing wholesale goods into the 1870s. Advertised in 1857 they had manufactured goods for Bailey & Kitchen, then Bailey & Co for twenty years using their own dies and patterns, for which they held several patents.
It is likely they went through a dozen set of punches in that time, so small variations would not be at all surprising or any indication of someone copying their mark.

Robert H Taylor and Robert Dickson Lawrie were both born in Scotland. Taylor in about 1805 and Lawrie in about 1810. Taylor died in 1880 and Lawrie in 1874.