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Hello forum,

I'm not sure this is precisely the right group to post in as you will see.

Yesterday I bought this Pepperette at an antiques fair. It's slightly over 8 cm tall with a removable Bristol blue liner. The base is quite clearly hallmarked for Mappin and Webb, Sheffield with a date letter 't' for 1911.



The top seems to be separately made or a replacement and that's my query. I believe the date letter is a stylized letter 'v' which would suggest it was assayed in Sheffield in 1913.



There's a small split across the maker's hallmark which I believe reads "T.F.&Co. Ltd". Can you give me any idea of the makers name please? The only references I can find seem to have this as an unknown maker though I wonder if the Mappin & Webb association might shed light on the matter.

Thank you in anticipation,

Ian T

I would suggest this mark:

which I have attributed as probably Thomas Ellin & Co Ltd.

That mark appears to be overstamped on another mark which seems to have the shape of a flattened shield rather like the M&W mark on the base of your pepperette. Although the aspect ratio of the underlying mark is pretty much the same as that of the M&W mark I don't see any trace of the M&W characters.

Phil

Phil,

Many thanks for your reply. And all that you say makes perfect sense.

looking again under a loupe, what I thought was a split across the second letter actually looks like the left side of the Mappin and Webb shield stamp cutting into the letter E. It's separated the tail of the E to make it look like an F with a full stop. I made the assumption that as the T had a full stop after it, so would the following letter. As to why all this has happened, well I guess that's another matter.

Best Regards,

Ian T