Show me your best silver utensil?

[Truth]

This was one of my first fines with a bounty hunter I got a screaming signal and I made a plug very clayey and I couldn’t find it so I got disgusted and laughed and when I went to put my shovel in the trunk they had a chunk of clay on the shovel and on the very outside of the smooth clay I saw a silver “S” like it was this 1901-1911 baby silver spoon

 

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[JVA5th]

I’m thinking between $15 to $20 fixing it with a jeweler

That's not too bad. My local jeweler I've become friends with as I always show him my finds and chit chat with him so he often gives me good deals. So may not hurt to ask if he can get it into better shape for me I'm curious how it will look fixed.

 

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[Truth]

View attachment 2010974
Those spoons are very fancy but they're far from my favorite. This relatively humble looking spoon above is my favorite. I found this one during a dig in Manhattan and restored it back to table use, and I use it regularly. It is a Five Points spoon. Made by Andrew C. Benedict between the years 1836-1846 at 28 Bowery Manhattan in an area called the 6th Ward but known colloquially as the 'Five Points' (made famous by Herbert Asbury's book Gangs of New York, and the subsequent movie adaptation).

It is so incredibly difficult to find artifacts from this time and place as the majority of relics were excavated during the build up of lower Manhattan. (All officially known archeologically excavated Five Points artifacts that were recovered from the ground by NYC were stored and displayed in the North Tower of the WTC, the entire collection was subsequently destroyed on 9/11 apart from 2 or 3 artifacts that were on loan at the time). So I regard this spoon not only as my best spoon but perhaps my best find of all time - in regard to NYC history at least.

Hey I see your point it’s a beautiful spoon Smooth as ice. And that spoons got some age on it congratulations

 

[Ocean7]

You got the best avatar on TNET

thanks! Yeah Val Kilmer's best role (Tombstone). IMO

 

[worldtalker]

Sugar spoon marked appropriately..Treasure!

GOD Bless America ONCE again

Chris

 

[Red-Coat]

Is that a Spoon?

yes, I believe it is a grapefruit spoon. It is very heavy weight so it won't slide off table on ship at sea. I believe the eagle symbol indicates higher rank of officer but not sure how high in Navy.

Nice, but I think not a grapefruit spoon. They usually have a more pointed end to the bowl. These "spade" shapes are usually the much less commonly found "Stilton scoops", used for serving cheese.

 

[Red-Coat]

Matched set of gilded sterling silver berry spoons, London England, circa 1801, George III portrait stamped on back of each. Found in trash in NYC, Halloween night 2018. My oldest positively dated matched set of spoons. The etchings on the handles are a later (likely Victorian-era) addition that actually detracts from their value. But I like the fact they're from the Napoleonic Era and no doubt were handled by aristocrats chatting away about the wars in Europe at the time. These spoons were part of a hoard of nearly 100 historic silver articles I found in one massive discovery.

Absolutely lovely. Could we see the hallmarks please? Might be able to find a maker for you.

 

[Red-Coat]

Sugar spoon marked appropriately..Treasure!

Nice spoon. In case you haven’t researched it, produced by Rogers, Lunt & Bowlen in “William & Mary” pattern, designed by Frederick W Koonz in 1921. The “Treasure” trademark was used from 1921 until 1954 but the ‘RLB’ maker mark was only used until 1935 when the company name was shortened to “Lunt Silversmiths”.

 

[UnderMiner]

Absolutely lovely. Could we see the hallmarks please? Might be able to find a maker for you.

Here you go

 

[Red-Coat]

Here you go
View attachment 2036099

Thanks UnderMiner.

Couldn’t wish for a clearer set of hallmarks… until you get to the maker mark. Drew a blank on that, I’m afraid. The only London makers of that period using ‘HN’ I know of were Henry Nutting and Hannah Northcote (Northcote had stops between the letters and Nutting did not). It’s not either of their marks though. Only Nutting used HN over other letters, but as ‘HN over RH’ for his short-lived partnership with Robert Hennell. I can’t see the lower portion as ‘RH’ though and, in any case, the partnership didn’t begin until 1808 whereas the hallmark is for 1801.

Maker marks were sometimes applied in a different orientation to the other marks and I considered the possibility the mark is upside down (not unusual) as something over NH but I drew a blank there too. The serifs on the ‘N’ also look wrong if you invert the mark.

There are still many early makers whose marks are yet to be identified and they aren’t always from the city of assay. Smaller provincial makers would customarily send their work to London (or the nearest assay office) for hallmarking.

 

[maine_Jim]

Didn't dig these but stumbled on them in a box in our town dump. They date to 1870 which is nice. Don't know why anyone would just toss them out but I was happy to take them.

Maine_Jim

 

[UnderMiner]

Thanks UnderMiner.

Couldn’t wish for a clearer set of hallmarks… until you get to the maker mark. Drew a blank on that, I’m afraid. The only London makers of that period using ‘HN’ I know of were Henry Nutting and Hannah Northcote (Northcote had stops between the letters and Nutting did not). It’s not either of their marks though. Only Nutting used HN over other letters, but as ‘HN over RH’ for his short-lived partnership with Robert Hennell. I can’t see the lower portion as ‘RH’ though and, in any case, the partnership didn’t begin until 1808 whereas the hallmark is for 1801.

Maker marks were sometimes applied in a different orientation to the other marks and I considered the possibility the mark is upside down (not unusual) as something over NH but I drew a blank there too. The serifs on the ‘N’ also look wrong if you invert the mark.

There are still many early makers whose marks are yet to be identified and they aren’t always from the city of assay. Smaller provincial makers would customarily send their work to London (or the nearest assay office) for hallmarking.

Thanks for the information and the time you spent researching! That was actually the more clearly marked of the two, the other maker is not as clearly stamped. But it's the same maker, time, and place which is crazy to think because that means they've stayed together for over 220 years. Maybe one day we'll figure out the craftsman's identity

 

[Red-Coat]

Thanks for the information and the time you spent researching! That was actually the more clearly marked of the two, the other maker is not as clearly stamped. But it's the same maker, time, and place which is crazy to think because that means they've stayed together for over 220 years. Maybe one day we'll figure out the craftsman's identity View attachment 2036157

Aaah… that second picture really helps. I’m pretty sure the maker mark is upside down (as I said, this is not unusual on older silver) and it looks to me like “DU over NH (with stops between the letters)”.

That will be the high end London silversmith partnership of Duncan Urquhart & Naphtali Hart. They first registered as “buckle-makers” on 18th October 1791 and soon progressed to fancy sterling dinnerware and flatware. They registered further joint marks up until 22nd August 1805 (the later marks don’t have stops between the letters) and dissolved the Urquhart & Hart partnership in 1812 by mutual consent.

 

[UnderMiner]

Aaah… that second picture really helps. I’m pretty sure the maker mark is upside down (as I said, this is not unusual on older silver) and it looks to me like “DU over NH (with stops between the letters)”.

View attachment 2036162

That will be the high end London silversmith partnership of Duncan Urquhart & Naphtali Hart. They first registered as “buckle-makers” on 18th October 1791 and soon progressed to fancy sterling dinnerware and flatware. They registered further joint marks up until 22nd August 1805 (the later marks don’t have stops between the letters) and dissolved the Urquhart & Hart partnership in 1812 by mutual consent.

Wow! Great info!

 

[Ocean7]

Nice, but I think not a grapefruit spoon. They usually have a more pointed end to the bowl. These "spade" shapes are usually the much less commonly found "Stilton scoops", used for serving cheese.

"Stilton scoops"? ok thanks! That's probably worth a lot more money!

 

[Gare]

View attachment 2010968
Matched set of gilded sterling silver berry spoons, London England, circa 1801, George III portrait stamped on back of each. Found in trash in NYC, Halloween night 2018. My oldest positively dated matched set of spoons. The etchings on the handles are a later (likely Victorian-era) addition that actually detracts from their value. But I like the fact they're from the Napoleonic Era and no doubt were handled by aristocrats chatting away about the wars in Europe at the time. These spoons were part of a hoard of nearly 100 historic silver articles I found in one massive discovery.

This is a VERY AMAZING FIND !!!

 

[UnderMiner]

This is a VERY AMAZING FIND !!!

Now just imagine finding the whole lot it was from: https://www.treasurenet.com/media/silver-spoons.1662576/

When I found this hoard I actually ended up going out of state to a haunted house theme park for the night with my friends before I could even fully wrap my head around what this all was. The whole time I was running through haunted houses I was just thinking of my hoard back home. Halloween 2018, the best Halloween. Friends, fun, and treasure! I miss those days! 😎👍