Help with a Sheffield Chamber candlestick hallmarks

[cato_x3]

Hello all. I have been interested in collecting sterling for some time now and have been learning more about hallmarks. I just bought a chamber candlestick, and the hallmarks are a little confusing and I was hoping someone could help me.

It appears to have a King George III Duty Mark, and what may be the sterling lion mark (not sure on this). I believe the maker is John Parsons & Co (IP & Co in a rectangle), which I think was registered in Sheffield around 1793. The parts that confuse me are the absence of a date stamp and the crown over the symbol hallmark. Also, are they worn or just poorly struck?

Can someone help me understand what exactly I have here? It did come with a snuffer from the George III era but the hallmarks are different so it isn't the original. Thanks for any and all help with this.

[oel]

Hi welcome to the forum,

The date letter to me looks like the crowned date letter; Gothic L for 1787 but not 100% sure.
See:
http://www.925-1000.com/dlc_sheffield.html
and for the maker's mark:
http://www.silvermakersmarks.co.uk/Make ... -I.html#IP
Oel.

[dognose]

Hi,

Welcome to the Forum.

That's a very nice find. I would say it is 1787. John Parsons & Co. registered their mark with the Sheffield Assay Office on the 3rd July 1783.

This chamber stick would have had two snuffers, besides the cone type, a scissor type would have fitted into the vacant slot under the holder.

If your can capture a sharp image of the crest, and post it into the 'Family Crests' section, we may be able to identify a former owner.

Trev.

[silvermakersmarks]

Just a minor correction on oel's post: the date letter is a gothic T, not an L. The confusion is because 1786 was K, but for some reason the Sheffield Assay Office, in their first 2 cycles of date letters, did not use alphabetical order, so 1787 was T, 1788 was W.....

This form of the crown combined with the date letter was used at Sheffield on smaller items from 1780 until 1853. Note that the date letter chart for Sheffield on this site (see link in oel's post above) shows only either the combined form or the letter-only form for this period, but both types ran in parallel.

Phil

[dognose]

An illustration from 1787 of a similar chamber stick, showing the accompanying snuffers:



Trev.

[cato_x3]

Thanks everyone for all your help. I didn't realize that the crown and dates were combined on some hallmarks. I'm glad to know that I was pretty close in my research. And thanks Trev for the illustration. I figured that something would go in that slot but I couldn't figure out what it should be. And I will try to figure out the family crest as well. That is where things get very interesting for me. I love to think about who may have used some of these items I've collected.

Does it impact the collectability if the cone snuffer isn't original to the piece, or that I don't have the scissor snuffer?

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