The now cleaned mark appears to be "FTD" and not a lot of information to encourage searching some online Edinburgh directories. I started though, and spent several fruitless hours finding no candidates, to have made, wholesale, or retail my "F.T.D" spoon.
I noted online some forks with "FTD" and "E" marks, for sale in the South West of England. My spoon had itself come from the near South West of England and possibly "E" was not for Edinburgh. Was it "E" for a retailer in Exeter? My thought now is that the spoon was marked, “E” for Exeter.
The image is from the Kelly's Directory of Devon, 1889 and so is the entry below
DEPREE FREDERICK TEMPLER (estab.1812), diamond merchant, goldsmith, jeweller, watch & clock maker & silversmith, 17 & 18 High Street & Bedford Street.
The entry was identical in the 1893 Kelly's Directory of Devon & Cornwall, Part 1 Devon, and I think the address, 17 & 18 High Street & Bedford Street, indicates it was a street corner shop.
In the Post Office Directory of Exeter, 1895-96 there was another large pictorial advert but there the name was "F.T.Depree". I am happy to think that my "FTD" spoon may well have been retailed through Frederick Templer Depree's Exeter shop, where the advert had claimed that you get the “best electro-plated goods”. However, do any of our Scotland Forum members have any alternative ideas?
By the time of the Kelly's 1902 Directory of Devon & Cornwall, [Part 1: Devon] the firm had become
..................Depree, Raeburn & Young, 17 & 18 High Street & Bedford St. Exeter, Silversmiths and Jewellers Watch and Clock Maker
and not many years later in the 1912 Post Office Directory of Exeter & Suburbs it became
.................Depree & Young Ltd, I7 & I8, High St Silversmiths and Jewellers.
Both these 2 "follow on" firms are referenced elsewhere on our Forum but "F.T.Depree" by "himself" is not, even though "his" concern is suggested to have been established in 1812.
In the 1878-79 History, Gazetteer & Directory of Devon there was an entry for “Depree”, who does not appear as working in his own right. F.T.Depree is not at I7 & I8, High St, but a “Depree” is at 200 High Street, where there was a watch and clock makers, jewellers, goldsmiths and silversmiths, named “Ellis, Depree & Tucker”. In a separate directory entry, also at 200 High Street, Exeter, is “Ellis Brothers”, watchmakers and jewellers. Do these entries indicate a business in transition, replacing the “Ellis Brothers” company? Although the 1889 advert, illustrated earlier, suggests that "F.Templer Depree" had become the "total" business, there is evidence that it was still “Ellis, Depree & Tucker”. In 1894 “Ellis, Depree & Tucker” were asked to “produce” a presentation shovel for the initiation of work on a local railway. This presentation shovel made by Ellis, Depree & Tucker of Exeter, had “leaf branch decoration and metal flower motifs on handle, made by Ellis, Tucker & Depree, Exeter, 1894” on and the top right hand corner is inscribed ‘F.T.Depree, silversmith Exeter’. Regarding the ‘F.T.Depree” established 1812 claim, the “Ellis” line did go back to the early 1800’s.
The below reference that can guide you to some of the “firms” mentioned in this post including a very brief mention of Ellis, Depree & Tucker
https://www.925-1000.com/forum/viewtopi ... IR%20SPOON
Fishless