🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Any ideas on this silver ?

[Marino13]

Picked this up at an estate sale. The handle says pat. 1862?? Then G.S.?? Hallmarks on bottom of cup. Is it a gravy ladle? Any ideas on maker would be appreciated too. Thanks.

 

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[Gene Mean]

That's nice
Unique style. My wife says it's for wine or punch bowl.

 

[opalboy]

The lion with the lifted paw denotes sterling.

 

[ArfieBoy]

I have no idea about it. Some of the people who know about silver on here could give you information about it. Good luck.

 

[Marino13]

The lion with the lifted paw denotes sterling.

Yes, I'm pretty sure it's sterling, the s stamp I think is for a date of 1867. Not sure what the other lion thingies are tho.

 

[Red-Coat]

Nice. I would call it a ‘dipper’ and used for serving liquids from a larger vessel into cups or glasses. Typically for thinks like hot toddies and punches.

Definitely NOT sterling and the lions passant are just for show, with no meaning in relation to silver fineness.

The 'S' between two lions (and the initials 'G.S.') are for George B. Sharp of Philadelphia, but it’s a maker mark for silver plate, not a hallmark for silver. I can’t reliably read the patent date, which you say is ‘1862’. It looks more like ‘1868’ to me but I’m sure you can read it better than I can from a photograph. Sharp was active in the 1850s, working exclusively as shop superintendent for the firm Bailey & Co. but then opened his own workshop in 1867 (using the same mark) and went out of business in 1874.

 

[Marino13]

Nice. I would call it a ‘dipper’ and used for serving liquids from a larger vessel into cups or glasses. Typically for thinks like hot toddies and punches.

Definitely NOT sterling and the lions passant are just for show, with no meaning in relation to silver fineness.

The 'S' between two lions (and the initials 'G.S.') are for George B. Sharp of Philadelphia, but it’s a maker mark for silver plate, not a hallmark for silver. I can’t reliably read the patent date, which you say is ‘1862’. It looks more like ‘1868’ to me but I’m sure you can read it better than I can from a photograph. Sharp was active in the 1850s, working exclusively as shop superintendent for the firm Bailey & Co. but then opened his own workshop in 1867 (using the same mark) and went out of business in 1874.

That's a little disappointing. Thanks!

 

[Red-Coat]

That's a little disappointing. Thanks!

You're welcome... BUT... I did a little more checking and it seems that Sharp used the same mark on both silver and silver plate. I would have expected that if it were silver then it would be marked as such though... but I wouldn't give up on it.

American makers borrowed the English lion passant mark for sterling and used it indiscriminately as a pseudo-hallmark on plated items, so it's not in itself a guarantee for sterling in the way it saw official use in English assay offices.