Help needed identifying age and maker of this fork

[Jmichl]

I dug this fork today and can't identify the maker mark. If anyone can help I'd appreciate it.
Thanks...

 

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[mindcrime1988]

Looks like the lettering is: G W & Co S

But the "G" also looks like it could be a "B"

Are you able to tell on your end which letter it is for sure?

 

[Jmichl]

Looks like the lettering is: G W & Co S

Those are the letters the I make out, but haven't found anything that matches. It could be a B or E, it still couldn't find anything.

 

[DCMatt]

Looks like the lettering is: G W & Co S

But the "G" also looks like it could be a "B"

Are you able to tell on your end which letter it is for sure?

Agree - G W & Co. Maybe someone trying to fake a George Wickes hallmark. The old English font style is the same...

 

[Red-Coat]

Just tidying up some blasts from the past (including some very ancient ones), largely for the benefit of anyone searching the site for information.

That’s one of the marks used on silverplate by George Waterhouse & Co. When you see an ‘S’ on its own after, but not part of, the maker name (and often in a different-shaped cartouche), it almost always means ‘Sheffield’, England and that’s the case here.

The company first appears in the Sheffield register under that name in 1842 at 75 Carver Street and was active until at least the 1930s. I would think the fork is probably late Victorian or early 20th Century.