Learned something today on old silver

[tamrock]

I did my routine run through the ARC thift store today and found a bag of old soup spoon and little demitase spoon and one longer spoon with some beautiful engraving. The handle of it was sticking out of the bag as though someone punctured it through to get a closer look, but possibly rejected it because it doesn't have the more familiar silver marks. Solid silver has a whiter appearance than plated silver, so I was sure this is pure. Turns out it's considered coin silver. It was made by S. Kirk & Son with a stamped mark of 10.15. This apparently is a mark Kirk used in the mid 19th century for a silver alloy of .896 pure and it weighs 45 grams. I gotta good deal and it and the small soup spoons are all monogrammed with a B which is the first letter of my last name.

 

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[Mackaydon]

Some history:
Your Kirk piece was made before 1896 when the name was changed from S. Kirki & Son to S. Kirke and Son Co.
Between 1815 and 1886, Only COIN silver was produced by the firm. It was illegal to melt US coins, so the firm imported foreign coins to melt into wares. French coins with a purity of 11/12 parts silver and marked 11 OZ are 91.6% silver. Spanish coins with a purity of 10.15/12 parts silver are marked 10.15 and have a purity of 84.6% silver. S. Kirk & Son first made 925/1000 silver in the year 1886.
Don.......

 

[tamrock]

Some history:
Your Kirk piece was made before 1896 when the name was changed from S. Kirki & Son to S. Kirke and Son Co.
Between 1815 and 1886, Only COIN silver was produced by the firm. It was illegal to melt US coins, so the firm imported foreign coins to melt into wares. French coins with a purity of 11/12 parts silver and marked 11 OZ are 91.6% silver. Spanish coins with a purity of 10.15/12 parts silver are marked 10.15 and have a purity of 84.6% silver. S. Kirk & Son first made 925/1000 silver in the year 1886.
Don.......

Don. That adds even more to what I didn't know about this spoon until I got it yesterday. Thank you! Grant

 

[Red-Coat]

Nice. It's their 'Mayflower' pattern, first produced in 1846 but subsequently made in both Sterling and silverplate.

 

[Bucket Lister]

I did my routine run through the ARC thift store today and found a bag of old soup spoon and little demitase spoon and one longer spoon with some beautiful engraving. The handle of it was sticking out of the bag as though someone punctured it through to get a closer look, but possibly rejected it because it doesn't have the more familiar silver marks. Solid silver has a whiter appearance than plated silver, so I was sure this is pure. Turns out it's considered coin silver. It was made by S. Kirk & Son with a stamped mark of 10.15. This apparently is a mark Kirk used in the mid 19th century for a silver alloy of .896 pure and it weighs 45 grams. I gotta good deal and it and the small soup spoons are all monogrammed with a B which is the first letter of my last name.

It only takes one silver to make it worthwhile. 😉

 

[tamrock]

Nice. It's their 'Mayflower' pattern, first produced in 1846 but subsequently made in both Sterling and silverplate.

View attachment 2153895

Thank you RC. I collect most the older silver spoons I come by. This one I'll add to the others. I just need one more silver souvenir spoon to fill this display. I found one more for cheap last week.

 

[tamrock]

It only takes one silver to make it worthwhile. 😉

In this case it did. I'm glad the other curious silver seeker gave it a thumbs down. More people are searching these days. Just about every silver plated bowl, tray or whatever I see now has the stickers peeled back from folks having a look at the marks. I've learned by eye that a solid piece of silver genuinely stands out to all the plated stuff. Other elements give the good stuff away also, such as how it was constructed.

 

[Showtime2385]

Beautiful good eye!

 

[TreaShore]

Nice score. Someone else missed out because they relayed too much on common knowledge. To me, seeing the pattern on the front was enough to tell me it was hand engraved with a graver. It is also cool to that you got a monogram with your initial.

There is a thrift store I go to that has employees check over things in depth before putting them on display. Clearly the workers didn't know 835 was a European silver purity. I paid something like $18 for 16 ounces of flatware. That's what happens when people don't take the time to learn.

Keep up the good work.

 

[tamrock]

Nice score. Someone else missed out because they relayed too much on common knowledge. To me, seeing the pattern on the front was enough to tell me it was hand engraved with a graver. It is also cool to that you got a monogram with your initial.

There is a thrift store I go to that has employees check over things in depth before putting them on display. Clearly the workers didn't know 835 was a European silver purity. I paid something like $18 for 16 ounces of flatware. That's what happens when people don't take the time to learn.

Keep up the good work.

I don't think they have the time to look over every little detail of all the things that gets dumped off in these larger stores anymore. I know the management tries to educate the employees, but the employees could care less, because they probably get reprimanded for taking to much time looking over every little detail. Even if it says sterling somewhere on it. If they don't see sterling with a quick flip look on the back it's just cheap plate to them and gets priced as such. It's taken me a bit of time on some items to find some marks on a few pure silver pieces. Especially if it's not clearly stamped in the center of the bottom.