Beach spoon.

[Catcopter]

Hello i need a little help with the hallmark on this spoon. I realise there isn't much to work with but would just like some help clarifying a few things.

From looking at this website i think it is a valid silver hallmark but it looks a little strange could someone please confirm it is indeed the correct format to be a silver hallmark. The things that appear strange to me are the number of marks and the order they are in also the clearest mark is the crown which i assume is for Sheffield but it appears to be the wrong way round?

Thanks in advance :)

[Catcopter]

[dognose]

Hi,

Welcome to the Forum.

It's, or was once was, silver plated. From right to left, firstly you have the remains on the British Registry Mark, see: http://www.925-1000.com/registry.html,
secondly a crown containing the letters 'EP' for Electro Plated, the third and fourth marks may be ones of the many used by Joseph Gilbert of Birmingham, see: http://www.925-1000.com/silverplate_G.html, and the last two being 'a1', a popular indicator used by platers to suggest their best quality.

The fact that the marks contain a crown shows that the spoon was made before 1896, when the use of a crown on plated wares was outlawed. The last issue date of the Registry symbol was 1883, but that only indicates the design and not the date of manufacture.

Trev.

[Catcopter]

Thanks for the quick reply trev and you gave me more detail than i thought would be possible.