Page 1 of 1

Irish (Cork City) Flatware Early 1840s or Before?

Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 7:07 pm
by b_roche
The pieces pictured came from an estate of an ancestor and were identified as coming from Cork city. My ancestor arrived initially in the US around 1842, so I assume they were made prior to that time.

I am trying to confirm if the pieces are in fact Irish made- to confirm the documentation received is accurate. At this point I haven't been able to identify a hallmark as they are quite worn. In addition, I am not even certain if they are silver or perhaps pewter or some other metal (and not really sure how to confirm that either).

I will clean the pieces to see if that helps, but wanted to get a post out in hopes that someone might recognize the pattern.

Thank you for your time and help!
X
X

Re: Irish (Cork City) Flatware Early 1840s or Before?

Posted: Tue Dec 24, 2013 5:48 am
by agphile
The style is more 1900ish than 1840ish so not from Ireland in the first half of the 19th century. If there are no marks, almost certainly base metal rather than silver, I'm sorry to say.

Re: Irish (Cork City) Flatware Early 1840s or Before?

Posted: Thu Dec 26, 2013 3:22 pm
by b_roche
I was able to clean the back of the fork and there appears to be a "WP" or a "Wr" followed by a line- then another "W" below the line

Please see the pictures and let me know if this hallmark is familiar in any way- again, the story was the pieces were brought from Ireland, so just looking to confirm either way.

Thanks again for your help!

X
X

Re: Irish (Cork City) Flatware Early 1840s or Before?

Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2013 6:21 am
by agphile
I'm afraid I don't recognise those marks. They are not British or Irish silver marks. As I said, the pattern of the items suggests a later date than 1842 so this may be one of those occasions when a bit of family history has managed to attach itself to the wrong objects. Sorry I cannot be more help. Perhaps the marks or the pattern will ring a bell with somebody else.

Re: Irish (Cork City) Flatware Early 1840s or Before?

Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2015 3:06 pm
by dognose
They did, eventually..........

The mark is 'WB' over 'W'.

See here for an explanation: viewtopic.php?f=26&t=38051&p=116753

Just goes to prove, if you leave your images in place, an answer arrives.....eventually!

Trev.

Re: Irish (Cork City) Flatware Early 1840s or Before?

Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2017 8:29 pm
by b_roche
Trev-

Thanks so much for posting this! On a whim I decided to follow up on this post from 2013 and saw your message.

Clearly this flatware is not made in Ireland, based on your findings.

I guess the original story- that the flatware came from Ireland has been debunked.