Need Help With Symbols on my Berry Spoon

[hougham]

Hello - I checked the website, and I am struggling with the symbols somewhat as I am new to this. Photos below.

When I bought the spoon, I was told it was by Solomon Hougham. The mark seems to be cut off in half - and wondering if someone that looks at these symbols all the time can verify that for me. I know there is another relative named Charles Hougham that is a silver smith as well. So am not familiar which one fits exactly right with my symbol.

That brings me to the date stamp - which is an "a" - but I notice there are two "a"s and I think this looks like the older one in 1736. What do you think? If so, then I would think that confirms Solomon Hougham as he would have been in his 30s at that time.

The second symbol from the left I believe is the the Crowned Leopard. It is worn, but you can make it out that it is the Crowned Leopard. This dates it before 1784.

The third symbol from the left I am still trying to figure out. I can't seem to match it to photos online - like I said I am new.

Any help and definitive dating,city,silversmith would be appreciated.



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[dognose]

Hi, Solomon Hougham and Charles Hougham were brothers their father was also called Solomon. Charles entered his first mark in 1769, Solomon became free in 1786 and they became partners in 1790.
Your spoon is 1776 and is by Charles Hougham, the mark that you cannot make out is the Lion Passant the Sterling standard mark (925/1000) the outline of this mark confirms the date as 1776 not 1736.
The Crowned Leopards Head continued until 1821.
Solomon Snr. was not a silversmith he was a linendraper. Hope this is of some help, regards Trev.
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[dognose]

Hi again, Rereading your post, I forgot to mention that your spoon is a London one, also did you realise that your spoon was originally plain, the embossing would have been a later Victorian addition designed to bring the spoon "up to date" hope this helps, regards Trev.
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[hougham]

Hi again, Rereading your post, I forgot to mention that your spoon is a London one, also did you realise that your spoon was originally plain, the embossing would have been a later Victorian addition designed to bring the spoon "up to date" hope this helps, regards Trev.

No, I did not realize that the spoon was originally plain and that the embossing would have been a later Victorian addition. Can you tell me - from a collector's point of view is that bad? I am a Hougham myself and have decided to collect my relative's silver. Since I just started I would like to put my money in the best pieces and not be overcharged for something. Also, is one silversmith (Solomon or Charles) more favored than the other?

Thanks.
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[Granmaa]

I'd say it would depend on the collector's tastes: there are people who only collect berry spoons. Overall, later decorated table spoons are more sought after than ones in their original state.
Ian Pickford writes in Silver Flatware:

During the mid-nineteenth century the practice of producing "berry" spoons started.... Sad to say, such is the popularity of these mongrel pieces, that this base practice continues today

As for which maker is more favoured; they both produced spoons of similar quality (not sure about their holloware), and so the difference in time between the working periods of the makers is the only reason why Carles Houghman would command greater respect.

I have a couple of questions myself if I may:
Firstly, what is the difference between embossing/chasing and engraving; I hear engraving is more expensive.
Also, I would like to know the earliest date when a genuine berry spoon was made. I have one from 1838, but I would like to see that beaten.

Miles
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[dognose]

Hi Miles, As I understand it, embossing is where raised designs are manufactured by striking the plate from the other side by hammer or machine, chasing is where the plate is struck by a blunt punch causing compression of the plate, often used along with embossing but when used on its own described as flat chasing, engraving is where the surface of the plate is cut as in marking monograms.
I personally think the later addition of embossed work such as berry spoons to be the ruination of a fine spoon, but I know others disagree as they are keenly collected.
I suppose that by the date of their popularity much of this work was done by machine, it would be interesting if others know if this was the case and how this was achived bearing in mind how bowl sizes varried so much on these old hand made spoons. regards Trev.
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[Granmaa]

Thankyou for your definitions Trev, and I share your disapproval of berryfying fine (and even not so fine) spoons.

I'll give a theory for your question:

I've seen two types of bowl decoration on these spoons: there is the design where fruits (often pineapples and oranges) are clumped together perhaps with a leaf or two around them like the spoon of this thread and pic 1 (c.1715).
Then there are those with a more composed design (picture two (c.1790)), often with strawberries or grapes and elaborate stems and vines trailing over the bowl.

For the latter type of decoration, it seems possible that the bowl could be struck between dies. I don't think the question of bowl shape you brought up would pose much of a problem: the fruit design is at the bottom of the bowl and at the edge of the bowl there is simply a wavy effect; different bowl sizes would only alter the measurements of the waves i.e. the bigger the bowl, the higher the waves (see the tiny waves on pic 2). Of course the sides of spoon bowls vary in steepness and forcing all spoons into the same punch would create disformed bowls, and this is exactly what one sees.

For the former type of decoration, I wonder if it's possible to add these pieces of fruit individually with a hand punch. On picture 1 there is quite a prominent rat-tail which would surely have disrupted the pattern of any all encompassing punch. What are your thoughts?




As for the chasing on the stem, it's easy to find examples where the design doesn't quite fit on:




Miles
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[dognose]

Hi Miles, I think you have got it exactly right, I had never given the matter much thought due to my dislike of berry spoons, the problems with rat-tails etc. must have caused a different approach which required the use of hand punches. This poses other questions do you think this would have been done cold or to heated spoons, there must have been a high risk of splitting even on such a malable metal as silver, I wonder who took the risk, the smith or the client, for surely there must have been many failures requiring solder repairs and on a high relief surface with so much detail would have been difficult to disguise.
I also wonder if these conversions were generally carried out by regular silversmiths or if firms were set up to cater for this new fashion, I have never seen the addition of an extra mark, this of course was an excellent opportunity for overstamping, which takes us back to another thread, regards Trev.
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[admin]

I know of one dealer who is currently active in the berrification (thanks Miles, for coining that) of antique spoons and they are very popular sale items for him.
He has a craftsman that does them by hand, not diestamping. The process is:
Annealing - the bowl is heated red hot and then cooled by air or dipping in an acidic pickle. This returns the metal to its original soft & maleable state that it lost when the bowl was created by compression.
Repousse - the bowl is filled with pitch and then worked from the back with punches to provide the raised areas in the bowl.
Chasing - the pitch is removed from the bowl and the raised areas are now worked, from the front, with liner punches to refine the design and delineate it.
It could be polished and end there (as in Hougham's example) or go on (as in Miles' example) to...
Engraving - working the design with a fine graving tool to further refine it.
Matting - working the background with textured stamps to provide a contrast for the design to show against.


The annealing can be skipped, but it makes the metal much more difficult to work and does put it at risk for cracking or tearing. It is unlikely that anyone with the skill to do this work would bypass that step.

Regards,
Tom
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[Granmaa]

EDIT: I was writing this before I read your post Tom. What is the purpose of the pitch? :EDIT


I'm sure you're right about the dangers of splits. I've noticed that the bowls of these berry spoons are often quite thick compared with some table spoons I've seen, so perhaps they limited their work to higher quality pieces to avoid the danger.

It must take quite a bit of force to stamp a design into a thick bowl (I've seen modern machines curving bowls nowadays, and they're pretty large things), so it's more likely they got a cherry red heat first and used that cheap gold wash to hide any fire stains that might result from this.

Miles
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[Scotprov]

20 years ago, there was a firm which actually used a press to do the berrying. A friend of mine got there just after they had berried a nice pair of Greenock table spoons, thus reducing the value in that case.
The pitch is a medium which will allow some 'give' so that the embossing depth is controlled with the strikes of the implement
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