Indian Trade Silver scoop

[Glen's Loyalists]

This is not a metal detecting find, but an eBay scoop that my son found. The seller was listing an estate sale that had a lot of high end jewelry, including a number of Memento Mori rings that sold for several thousand dollars each. This went more or less unnoticed and sold to my son for $100.00

Now I am more than aware of fakes on eBay, but this just looks right. It is definitely old silver, it has the correct size and shape. I see no trace of rotary tools used to do the engraving, all was done by hand.

I cannot find any info on the hallmarks, but this is likely an 18th century North American silversmith and details are scant on them, at least to my knowledge. There would not be the standard British hallmarks.

Also, aiding my thoughts that it is authentic is the amount of wear on the silver suspension loop. If it was a modern copy I cannot imagen that it would be silver or this worn

I was at the National Gallery in Ottawa a couple of months past and they have a large display of these, ranging from very small to huge. This is on the larger end, but far from huge. It would fit nicely in the group

So, is it real? I think so, but I am interested in any opinions. If it is real, what's it worth?

 

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