🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Spoon Hallmarks

[EnvoyToTheMolePeople]

I've been looking at the charts to try and find these spoon hallmarks, but I'm having a little trouble. It might be Lion (sterling), crowned lion (London), C (1778, 1798, or 1818), then a bust (either a maker's mark or a duty mark). However, I'm not sure the first mark is a Lion, and I can't tell which kind of C the date mark is. Maybe somebody else can read them better than I can. http://www.silvercollection.it/englishsilverhallmarks.html

 

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[CRUSADER]

Pretty sure you can rule out British hallmark. (although they are so rubbed, its tough to tell)

 

[EnvoyToTheMolePeople]

Pretty sure you can rule out British hallmark. (although they are so rubbed, its tough to tell)

What makes you say that?

 

[pepperj]

The hallmarks are worn, so the first 2 are hard to define.
It could be one from a number of countries.
Standing lion/Griffon for the first mark
Shield for the second mark is anyone's guess.
C for the third mark
Figure facing right for the forth mark

 

[Red-Coat]

You won't find those marks in the series for any British assay office. They're not British silver marks. Our hallmark format and style has been heavily regulated for centuries and the styling doesn't correspond to any of our authorised marks for multiple reasons. What purports to be a date letter is, for example, in a font style that has never seen use here.

Those are 'pseudo-hallmarks' loosely mimicking the real thing. Usually, that means the piece is not silver and the majority of marks like this are from American makers (not exclusively so) trying to give their work a greater desirability to their customers. Many of them remain unattributed.

 

[EnvoyToTheMolePeople]

You won't find those marks in the series for any British assay office. They're not British silver marks. Our hallmark format and style has been heavily regulated for centuries and the styling doesn't correspond to any of our authorised marks for multiple reasons. What purports to be a date letter is, for example, in a font style that has never seen use here.

Those are 'pseudo-hallmarks' loosely mimicking the real thing. Usually, that means the piece is not silver and the majority of marks like this are from American makers (not exclusively so) trying to give their work a greater desirability to their customers. Many of them remain unattributed.

Well, that's unfortunate. I suppose it would explain why the marks are so worn if the maker wanted them to be intentionally vague. Is there an approximate age on this? I found it next to a flat button, which should date the site to late 1700s-early 1800s. I thought the silver looked a little odd. It has some small blemishes on the surface, almost like bubbles, but it is not plated as far as I can tell.

 

[Red-Coat]

Well, that's unfortunate. I suppose it would explain why the marks are so worn if the maker wanted them to be intentionally vague. Is there an approximate age on this? I found it next to a flat button, which should date the site to late 1700s-early 1800s. I thought the silver looked a little odd. It has some small blemishes on the surface, almost like bubbles, but it is not plated as far as I can tell.

The spoon is a 'fiddleback' style, has a 'tipped' terminal on the handle, and also has 'fins' on the shoulders of the bowl. Those three design elements together became popular in America around the 1820s-1830s (around 10-20 years earlier in Britain). The pseudo-duty mark mimics a pre-Victorian version (ie pre-1838). It might be nickel-silver, an alloy of copper, nickel, and zinc containing no silver, which first saw use in the 1830s (and then began to be electro-plated during the 1840s).

I would think 1820s - 1830s would be a good bet, and most likely 1830s.

 

[CRUSADER]

What makes you say that?

I think you now have a full enough explanation why.
I also suspected a pseudo-hallmark although I couldn't assess the metal type easily in the picture & I'm not that knowledgeable on foreign hallmarks, so I didn't throw it out there.