coinman123
Silver Member
Using my recently made map of every pre-1850 abandoned homestead in my town, and each site's almost exact location on Google Earth, I have been at around 5 cellar holes (out of around 30 or so on my map). I have mainly just scouted them, not really metal detected, and a few have been hunted out for the most part. Today me and a friend went to one on my map, he did not have his pinpointer so I let him use mine, which was sadly out of battery. My friend for some reason won't dig without a pinpointer. I metal detected right next to the foundation and cellar hole. I also dug inside of it. On the side of the foundation I was overloaded with signals, I dug one non-iron signal and found a beautiful pewter spoon. I then dug a big iron signal and found a big bracket and copper spoon (probably once silver plated), in the same hole (along with a ton of window glass everywhere). I then moved to inside the cellar hole and got a high signal in the wall, the signal got worse then went away, making me guess it was a nail. I noticed a bottle one foot into the dirt of the cellar hole wall though, and was able to safely remove a 1963 Pepsi bottle without even chipping it. I am surprised by what it was doing in the dirt wall of the cellar, I am thinking that the disappearing signal may have been the cap of the Pepsi bottle. It was my 4th soda bottle this year (the others were a 1984 Pepsi Bottle, 1968 Coke Bottle, late 1970's bad condition Pepsi bottle (haven't grabbed it yet, found within minutes of the 1968 Coke seen while walking in woods)) I was happy to bring it home to try and clean it out, they look nice in windows. Also on the edge of the cellar hole I found a late 1800's ornate brass compact. Anyways, my friend said he got tons of beautiful high tones, but had trouble digging them without the pinpointer so he gave up on all of them except one signal where he recovered a mid-1800's bullet. We are going back out tomorrow, with pin pointers, wish us luck!
Makers marks on pewter spoon are "JNO" "YA" "TE" "S", "JNO" is short for John I read.
Here is the history of the pewter spoon. I haven't been able to ID the copper one but I saw some place saying the first symbol is an 1842 date mark. I found out that the pewter one was made by a pewter maker by the name of John Yates, of Birmingham England. In 1805 he was registered as a spoon maker, in 1823 he opened his permanent business location. Then in 1829 he partnered with other spoon makers Thomas Rawlins Birch and Lucasta Spooner (hallmark changed to Y B & S). In 1837 his son joined changing the name to John Yates and Son (some hallmarks are "J Y & SON"). John left in 1839, and died in 1876. The name "John Yates and Son stayed until the late 1800's and they became very wellknown in the trade. I am guessing that my spoon would be rather early in his career, at least before 1829. Most of his pre-1829 works say "JO" "HN" "YA" "TE" "S", without "JNO". I am guessing that this spoon would be made very early on, perhaps in his first ten years of work. It is very different than late 1800's electroplated spoons made by "John Yates and Son", my spoon is very heavy and chunky and crudely made. I only found one other spoon online reported to be from him with my spoon's hallmark, without photos or any other information. I would put a date on it circa 1810, please let me know if my guess is correct.
History of John Yates
http://www.pewterbank.com/James_Yates_-_revised_article.pdf
Similar Spoon on Ebay, though less crudely built and and with different handle and strange hallmark.
Great Antique pewter spoon-marked. part of collection John Yates [Y8-W6-A9-E8] | eBay
Thanks for Looking, Coinman123
Makers marks on pewter spoon are "JNO" "YA" "TE" "S", "JNO" is short for John I read.
Here is the history of the pewter spoon. I haven't been able to ID the copper one but I saw some place saying the first symbol is an 1842 date mark. I found out that the pewter one was made by a pewter maker by the name of John Yates, of Birmingham England. In 1805 he was registered as a spoon maker, in 1823 he opened his permanent business location. Then in 1829 he partnered with other spoon makers Thomas Rawlins Birch and Lucasta Spooner (hallmark changed to Y B & S). In 1837 his son joined changing the name to John Yates and Son (some hallmarks are "J Y & SON"). John left in 1839, and died in 1876. The name "John Yates and Son stayed until the late 1800's and they became very wellknown in the trade. I am guessing that my spoon would be rather early in his career, at least before 1829. Most of his pre-1829 works say "JO" "HN" "YA" "TE" "S", without "JNO". I am guessing that this spoon would be made very early on, perhaps in his first ten years of work. It is very different than late 1800's electroplated spoons made by "John Yates and Son", my spoon is very heavy and chunky and crudely made. I only found one other spoon online reported to be from him with my spoon's hallmark, without photos or any other information. I would put a date on it circa 1810, please let me know if my guess is correct.
History of John Yates
http://www.pewterbank.com/James_Yates_-_revised_article.pdf
Similar Spoon on Ebay, though less crudely built and and with different handle and strange hallmark.
Great Antique pewter spoon-marked. part of collection John Yates [Y8-W6-A9-E8] | eBay
Thanks for Looking, Coinman123
As an eBay Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Upvote
18
