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On the matter of marks being altered by work done after assay this was very common. As long as nothing was ADDED after assay, especially solder, it was perfectly acceptable. You find many examples of piercing done after assay, as the labour involved was considerable and expensive . The smith did not...

I know very little about spoons so cannot comment on the style and construction of the spoon , but the Lion Passant appears to be the
London punch of the 1720- 1740 period.
Are there other marks on the bowl ?
.

According to Forbes HALLMARK A History of the London Assay Office. (p 242- 243) .... in 1821 John Smith, the punch engraver who succeeded John Pingo, "was instructed to produce new designs for the leopards head and the lion passant . A few trial punches were made in combination with the date le...

Sometimes in the 18th and early nineteenth centuries you find buckles with the makers mark obliterated, probably when sold via a retailer who did not have a registered mark. I have encounted one deliberate erasure of a Lion Passant, where the buckles had copper ornanamentation added post marking. I ...

Margaret Gill in "...Newcastle Goldsmiths" gives John Walton as retired around 1867, but gives no other IW likely. As the leopards head is uncrowned on these marks ( it was only uncrowned in Newcastle in the period 1846 to 1851) I suspect that the maker is John Walton, but the dateletter i...

Thanks Adendum.
Looks as if it was an unofficial practise due to poor legislative drafting in the original Act.

Probably Joseph and Albert Savory ( A.B.Savory and Sons), mark entered 1840 (Jackson/Pickford p 236)
.

Not being used to watch case marks I am rather out of my depth on this matter but the absence of Duty Mark puzzles me a little. After the passing of the act of 1784, "the existing exemptions were retained....But rather unfairly, it would seem , exempted wares were charged with duty if they were...

The reading of English hallmarks is a skill worth acquiring. My advise is to get a cheap hall mark book - one of the little £5 pocket ones is fine. Do not worry about books for makers marks yet, a proper set of the two books essential for London alone , Grimwade and Culme are very expensive. Grimwa...

Probably William King (Grimwade 3215). first mark as goldworker April 1820 at 39 Red Cross Street ,Cripplegate. Moved successively to 15 and 18 Bridgewater Square, Barbican , then 14 Red Lion Street, Holborn . Second mark (the one on this piece) November 1826 as plateworker at 9 Sutton Street, Clerk...

I believe TB in the squarish punch would be Thomas Bartleet or Thomas Bartleet Jnr.

At http://www.theassayoffice.co.uk the Birmingham Assay Office have a very good site that gives all the early makers marks, plus a date letter system finder .

Looking at the JS tongs on Graham Hodges site I agree his dating to post 1797 (or post 1794) , which if Jackson is correct rules Shields out on that pair. However the mark on your pair is not identical to his and thus does not IMHO exclude Shields for your pair . They are a nice pair by any standard...

John Shields mark given in Jackson on a tablespoon looks a good match, and spoonmakers often made tongs. Your dating is too late however I think - by 1793 the oval punches for Hibernia and the crowned harp had been replaced by a cut cornered rectangle and by 1807 a George Head had been added . John ...

Dognose has a good theory - if the Assay office could alter the Duty George Head by in 1797 and others by filing small nicks to signify a different rate of duty, the George Smith 1 could easily alter a four lobed punch (Grimwade 908) to a horizontal punch. He may well not have bothered to re -regist...

GS on spoons and buckles normally refers to the second or third George Smith. The slightly sloping back S is generally accepted as one of George Smith 2 's numerous marks , but I cannot recall ever seeing one with the indented top to the punch and he was principally a bucklemaker. George Smith 3 was...