www.925-1000.com

There weren't assay offices in these provincial towns. Maker's simply applied their own marks which might or might not include a version of the town mark..

Gaskell of Lancashire according to Fairbairn. The motto "Spes" means Hope.

Afraid I can't help with the marks. Stylistically it looks to me like a piece from c.1780-90.

I have a vague memory of seeing either Kings or Queens pattern pieces marked by L H Twentyman but they must have been a rarity and, like you, I cannot see likely candidates in the Cape for your marks - so no real help from me I fear.

Pat
You have nothing to apologise for. I need to be more careful to make my meaning clear. All fault is mine. And all because at the outset I was too lazy to type "whalebone, otherwise known as baleen...." with an explanation of what this was.
David

Hunter In reply to your question about how common these items are, 18th century punch ladles of this general form are not too hard to find. You can, for example, usually find one or two offered in on-line auctions. However, I think it would probably take a long time, if ever, to find another with yo...

Silverly

I hope you did not think I was accusing you of showing off. Your explanation of the terms was on the contrary helpful. My comment was aimed, slightly tongue in cheek, at the way some sellers describe their wares.

David

Re. Whalebone, as the one who used the term I can add that it is a perfectly proper and long established English word. Note that it is a single word. If I wanted to refer to a real whale bone, I would use two words as I have just done. Whalebone used to be the more generally used word and I suspect ...

It is not that unusual to find items of this period that have escaped assay for one reason or another though it was becoming less common by the end of the 18th century. Incidentally, I think you will find the handle is whalebone.

Trev I love your romantic vision but the spoon in question must have come from a workshop eqipped with the right die for the pattern on the handle and a press to use the die, implying a specialist spoonmaker in a fully equipped workshop. I think I would want to see evidence of a largeish output befo...

If another firm were making and marking items for Gowland, is it possible that the actual maker is the name recorded in the recoords rather than Gowland since it is the maker who will have put the item in for assay and had it back for finishing?

Sorry. I should have said the hard sign at the end of "Burg" above. In you post you have put a soft sign at the end of Petrograd. The soft sign remains in use but not at the end of "grad" or "gorod".

Postnikov The Russian alphabet was reformed in 1918 when the hard sign as at the end of Petrograd above disappeared. I am not sure how long it took for the reform to affect spelling in practice but Leningrad will never have been written with a hard sign. I am not even certain what the old practice w...

My first thought is that these would be for something like creme brulee (sorry about the missing accents over the e's).

From my reference books, rather than my own direct knowledge, the trailing vine pattern had appeared in England by the 1830s while pierced vine was a pattern of the mid 19th century. Different makers probably had their own particular versions of the pattern and a date of 1848 suggests that yours mig...

Perhaps I should have added that your piece seems to me to be a rare variant of a relatively rare pattern. I'd be surprised if you found a specific name recorded for it unless you turn up a relevant catalogue from the right date. Even then, you might find it shares a name with other versions by othe...

Wakely and Wheeler's Chased and Pierced Vine

Wakeley and Wheeler have inherited and still use many 19th century dies. A catalogue of theirs describes a similar variant of the Bright Vine pattern simply as "Chased and Pierced Vine". The catalogue says it was first produced by Francis Higgins fo the 1851 Great Exhibition. However, the ...

Sounds like James Gould who was a candlestick maker.

Looks like a mark for electro-plate (EP on edge as the last mark along).