Early Dublin Spoon
Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2015 8:39 am
This is an old Dublin Hanoverian rat tail spoon in fine condition. It could be a Queen Anne or George I spoon as the X date mark on it was used from the 1st November 1713 to the 31st October 1715. This pattern of spoon was known in Ireland from 1710 and referred to as 'Hanoverian' after the accession of George I in August 1714.
The EB maker's mark puzzles me a bit. It has to be Edward Barrett (1698-1730) but this particular mark does not appear in Douglas Bennett's Collecting Irish Silver (see photo below). Edward Barrett used capitalised EB in a rectangular reserve and capitalised script EB in an oval reserve but the mark here is a mixture of the two. 500 Years of Irish Silver just shows two of the marks Bennett shows.
Although I may be wrong, to me the initials seem to be in an oval reserve rather than in a rectangular reserve worn to an oval shape over the intervening 300 years so has anyone come across this particular mark before for Edward Barrett?
Gordon
The EB maker's mark puzzles me a bit. It has to be Edward Barrett (1698-1730) but this particular mark does not appear in Douglas Bennett's Collecting Irish Silver (see photo below). Edward Barrett used capitalised EB in a rectangular reserve and capitalised script EB in an oval reserve but the mark here is a mixture of the two. 500 Years of Irish Silver just shows two of the marks Bennett shows.
Although I may be wrong, to me the initials seem to be in an oval reserve rather than in a rectangular reserve worn to an oval shape over the intervening 300 years so has anyone come across this particular mark before for Edward Barrett?
Gordon