Colonial Silver - spoils of war?

[gtoast99]

Hey Ya'll! I tried three new spots with my friend Dustin a few days ago. The first two didn't pan out, but persistence pays off!

Mostly Colt pistol, one Smith, three Merrill's, one fired round ball. I'm not sure what the small carved bullet started out as, but I always like carved lead.

As for brass, I found my second kepi hat buckle, two button backs, one incredibly fragile General Service eagle button, and two early flat buttons. One is a large copper button, fairly thin and plain. The other is a smaller, probably a bit later, and has a nice silver wash. It should clean up well. Dustin also found a beautiful silvered colonial dandy button with a star design, as well as some more Civil War relics.

My find of the hunt was this plow damaged silver spoon. Although the condition leaves a lot to be desired, It's one of my favorite recoveries of my detecting career. I searched for more pieces of the spoon bowl, but the ones I did find were scattered over a surprisingly large area by farming activity. The spoon handle has an ornate monogrammed letter "A". From our research into the site beforehand, we knew the family that owned the farm during the war lived in a nearby home since the late 1700's... and their surname started with that same letter "A". I think it is highly likely that the two are connected, but of course we will never know for certain.

The spoon is also hallmarked by the maker on the back - the letters "HW" in a rectangle with triangle cutouts on the sides.. Through the help of a friend who collects early American silver, we were able to find the maker of the spoon was Henry Wills, of New York, sometime around 1774. WOW! That means the spoon I removed from that field was hand crafted before this country had seen it's first Independence Day. What an incredible hobby!!

I'll close with one last bit of speculation. I do know approximately where the home site is located, and it is down the road a distance from the field we were detecting. It's likely that the early flat buttons we recovered were from farming activities in the fields over the years. It's also quite possible that the colonial spoon was lost in that field in a similar manner - the owners were having a meal in the field and it lay there for the next 200 years. But is there another explanation? I do have one primary source document that mentions that the house was looted by Yankee cavalry during the war. Is it possible that this silver spoon was taken as spoils of war and left in camp? Of course, it is all speculation, and we will probably never know. But it is interesting to think about.

Thanks for looking, happy hunting, and God bless.

 

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[Professor of Engineering]

Awesome finds! Great story and theory, thank you for sharing.

 

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[Erik in NJ]

OWK: Nice to know we have a local spoon expert. I found a spoon in the area that is very likely ties to a prominent area family whose surname also starts with an "A" and there is a house across the street built by an Abraham of that family, but had a different middle initial. I have misplaced it, but can get better pics. It's a bit pitted and the bowl was bent into an elongated rolled form somehow. When I relocate it I will send better pics. I couldn't read a maker's mark on the back, unfortunately, but will try again when I find it. Any idea on age based on engraving design? I may contact you by PM with additional spoon-related questions if you don't mind.

Could very well have been plundered.

It would be interesting to tie the spoon monogram to a family, and perhaps even to the original silversmith's receipt book.

Many local historical societies have receipt books for the silversmiths that worked in their areas. These are sometimes very detailed, telling how many spoons were ordered, what they were made from, how much the transaction cost, and when they were made (specific date).

All that can often be gleaned from a simple monogram.

Call me weird, but I find this stuff fascinating.

 

[OWK]

DownNDirty,

Regarding your pewter....

I'm more of a silver expert, but I know enough about pewter to hazard a solid guess. Many of the same principles apply.

I can tell you that stylistically, it dates to around 1750. You can see the line feature that separates the handle into two slightly concave facets. That is called a "midrib" or "mid-rib" feature. The portion where the handle joins the spoon is called the "drop". Your spoon has vestiges of what is called an arched drop.

The heavy construction, the midrib, and the arched drop are characteristic of mid-18th century spoons.

If it were earlier, it would have a feature called a rat-tail (which is a long thin pointed rat-tail band extending from the drop across 2/3 of the underside of the bowl).

 

[Erik in NJ]

I wonder if it's possible to have gtoast99's handle (and my spoon's bowl) straightened for posterity by a silversmith.

 

[OWK]

OWK: Nice to know we have a local spoon expert. I found a spoon in the area that is very likely ties to a prominent area family whose surname also starts with an "A" and there is a house across the street built by an Abraham of that family, but had a different middle initial. I have misplaced it, but can get better pics. It's a bit pitted and the bowl was bent into an elongated rolled form somehow. When I relocate it I will send better pics. I couldn't read a maker's mark on the back, unfortunately, but will try again when I find it. Any idea on age based on engraving design? I may contact you by PM with additional spoon-related questions if you don't mind.

Erik,

The form, decoration, and engraving date your spoon to between 1785 and 1795.

The particular style of decorating wriggle engraving is called bright-cut.

If you can manage to muster even a bad picture of the mark, I may be able to identify the silversmith.

 

[OWK]

I wonder if it's possible to have gtoast99's handle (and my spoon's bowl) straightened for posterity by a silversmith.

I fix abused and horribly bent up spoons often. But unless your aim is to sell the spoons (which wouldn't necessarily net much unless they were sought-after smiths) they may be better off with a little character.

 

[DownNDirty]

DownNDirty,

Regarding your pewter....

I'm more of a silver expert, but I know enough about pewter to hazard a solid guess. Many of the same principles apply.

I can tell you that stylistically, it dates to around 1750. You can see the line feature that separates the handle into two slightly concave facets. That is called a "midrib" or "mid-rib" feature. The portion where the handle joins the spoon is called the "drop". Your spoon has vestiges of what is called an arched drop.

The heavy construction, the midrib, and the arched drop are characteristic of mid-18th century spoons.

If it were earlier, it would have a feature called a rat-tail (which is a long thin pointed rat-tail band extending from the drop across 2/3 of the underside of the bowl).

WOW! Thank you so much-this is some very useful information.

 

[Erik in NJ]

OWK,

Thank you so much. I will locate the spoon--it is one of my favorite finds as it seemed to be tied to very local history and the engraving is beautiful. I appreciate your detailed knowledge and expertise. I'll contact you via PM if you don't mind in order not to hijack gtoast99's thread. I love learning about the evolution of the various styles of spoons and utensils and being in the northeast my collection includes a number of earlier pewter pieces/fragments on which I'd be very interested in building a chronological history.

Thank you again for your help so far!

 

[OWK]

Not a problem.

Feel free to PM

 

[mangum]

Great finds Tony, the silver spoon is great & def has a story to tell

 

[gtoast99]

Thanks everyone!!

Could very well have been plundered.

It would be interesting to tie the spoon monogram to a family, and perhaps even to the original silversmith's receipt book.

Many local historical societies have receipt books for the silversmiths that worked in their areas. These are sometimes very detailed, telling how many spoons were ordered, what they were made from, how much the transaction cost, and when they were made (specific date).

All that can often be gleaned from a simple monogram.

Call me weird, but I find this stuff fascinating.

I find is fascinating as well! I do think I know the family it came from, but to prove it would be beyond amazing. I'm going to have to see if I can find the silversmith's records or something someplace. Thanks again!

 

[wev]

My source is me. I am a collector and dealer in American Coin Silver, and have been for 3 decades.

To start things off, the spoon is a "fiddle" form spoon. (this is the term typically used to describe the way your spoon widens at the base of the handle). Fiddle spoons did not come into fashion in America until about 1815. Prior to this time, spoons had a straight handle with a rounded or pointed base. Or a coffin-form handle which was similar to the earlier straight handle spoons, but had the corners clipped off, resembling a coffin.

So your spoon definitely dates no earlier than 1815 or so.

The first website you listed is an online resource that is not very accurate with it's attributions. This is well known among collectors of coin silver. While none of them are perfect, better online resources can be found

Here:

Silversmith Directory

And here:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~silversmiths/makers/silversmiths/

As for the Henry White mark, the site you referenced actually includes a mark that is Henry White's, but mistakenly attributes it to Henry Willis. Henry White used a total of 7 different marks, some of which were unique, and other of which were made by re-shaping earlier marks which were damaged in use. Your spoon was marked with such a mark. It originally said "H.WHITE" but was reshaped to "H.W" after it broke during use. This was not uncommon.

I can say (based on the style of the spoon alone) with 100% certainty that it was not made by Henry Willis, and that it was not made prior to about 1815.

I can likewise say that I believe it was made by Henry White, but without a closer examination of the spoon, I would give no more than an 85% confidence in that attribution.

All things considered, an awesome find.

Thank you the mention of my modest efforts. To add a bit, though the question is already settled, the mark on the spoon is Hollan mark E (Virginia Silversmiths, pg 795). It is the most common of his three tooth marks and found on goods (generally spoons) c 1795-1820. Hollan notes a number of these pieces with known provenance, but none with an A monogram.

 

[OWK]

Hello wev.

We have spoken before on the Silver Salon fora.

Thanks for the additional information.