Canadian spoon?

[Qrt.S]

One of my friends turn to me asking the origin of this spoon. Unfortunately this is not my area so I have to ask you to identify the maker etc. I only have a feeling that it might be a Canadian spoon, but ??? I have no Canadian referencies. Any help appreciated, thank you.

[dognose]

Hi Qrt.S,

I have seen a similar mark before, but never found anything conclusive.



Trev.

[Qrt.S]

Interesting, thanks Trev.. I got some more clues from my friend:

It could be Quebec around 1850 and Charles Genes on 27 George Street who's working period was around 1852-1857

or

a certain C. Garish in South Africa around 1830, but ????

[dognose]

If Canadian, then the likelihood of the 'W' may be an indicator of the city of Winnipeg?

Trev.

[bstaunto]

Hey guys,
So are these pieces silverplate?
Or are we assuming that because of the stamped 4?
I would have thought with the pseudo-sterling lion they would be silver?

Sorry, just a bit confused. :)

Thanks,
Ben

[agphile]

I assumed this was posted in the silverplated forum simply because of guidance to start here when dealing with unknown marks that could be anything; start at the bottom and work your way up if there is good news might be another way of putting it.

Regarding the S Africa suggestion, Welz's Cape Silver lists a C Garisch as being recorded as a jeweller at 113 Loop Street in 1830/1831 but has no other information and shows no mark for him. The marks on the spoon do not look much like the style of known Cape marks. Unless there is some provenance to link with South Africa I would think the suggestion is simply clutching at names with matching initials.

[agphile]

A further comment I forgot to add, regarding the number 4. Was there a known practice in Canada of numbering the teaspoons in a set? I have known this on Scottish spoons. Not sure whether it is to help guests identify their spoon and cup, or to discourage theft by knowing which guest had which spoon. Might a Scottish family emigrating to Canada have brought this practice with them?

[agphile]

I really must learn to gather my thoughts and get my comments into a single reply rather than re-appearing with a series of postscripts. Sorry about that. I just want to add, in case anybody comes back about this, that I am aware of a passing resemblance between the outline of the cartouches on these marks and that on the marks of what David Murray has named the Cape Stub, see the Finial of May/June 2007.

(admin edit - see Posting Requirements )

I don't think that points to a Cape connection. The Cape stub has a unique and unvarying group of four pseudo marks. I am not aware that their outline matches any other known Cape marks. I do notice that the marks here seem to be within two stubs: one with the initials C.G and W, the other with the three pseudo hallmarks. That presumably means the workshop had enough business to justify getting these specialist dies cut. I might speculate whether they were commissioned for use with a similar press to that used by the proprietor of the Cape stub, but I don't think it is any help in trying to pinpoint the location of the silversmith.