Can anyone help idendify this spoon????

[crazymini]

Hi everyone, This is my first time on here and im hoping someone can help me. I found these spoons at my grandmothers house and was wondering if any one out there knows anything about them? they seem to be made of silver or lead or something - fairly heavy and have a marking on them like in this pic. Any info would be much appreciated.

[kerangoumar]

The spoon does not look to be made of silver - which would be light for its size rather than heavy. Off the top I'd say it looks like a cast iron but the pic is not too informative.

Here's what you can do to help:

on the back of the spoon, apply about half a teaspoon of either

a silver cleaning paste that has jeweller's rouge in it (you can tell what it is - it is pink and has a faintly sulphurous odour) or

a fairly thick paste made of grit-free cigar or cigarette ashes. Don't rub, just let it sit for a few minutes, then wash off and let us know what happened to the metal.

[crazymini]

thanks for that advice i will do that test asap and let you know - the spoon kind of looks like it could be made of lead - its a dark grey in colour - i thought cast iron to but my dad doesnt think so........ does anyone recognise the stamp on the back (an angel playing an instrument)?
Ok will get back to you asap with results of test. Oh is there a better photo that i could take for you??

[byron mac donald]

Hi Crazy-
I dont know for sure, but I dont think that many utensils were made of lead since the roman times anyway. perhaps pewter would be another choice which in the pre 20th century did contain lead. Lead on its own was just to soft of a material to be of much use. Does your spoon have any hallmarks that may help in identifying it?

regards-

[crazymini]

Hi Mac,

Oh i never thought of pewter - how silly of me lol.
i cant seem to find any markings on it except for the one in the above photo of the circle with the angel in it........
Your talking to a real first timer here guys - i just come across these while cleaning out my grandmothers cupboards and was searching the net for possible signs of what they are - more to the point of how old they may be (there are 6 the same) they are fairly deep 3D pictures at the bottom of the spoon so would be completely useless for eating with etc...........

[2209patrick]

I enhanced your pisture of the mark.
My guess is German pewter.



Pat.

[crazymini]

Hi Pat, thanks for that - do you have any info on German Pewter? or can you guess what age the spoons might be?

[2209patrick]

I probably should have said continental european pewter.
Other european countries like France also used an Angel mark.
It was an unofficial/unregulated mark. I think it indicates an abscence of lead in the alloy.

Pewter is not my area, so I can't help much.
For what it's worth, I've seen pewter items for auction with this mark.
They usually have been identified as German.
Have no ideas about the age of your spoon.

Pat.

[crazymini]

Thanks for that info Pat its a great start for me to do some more reasearch anyway. If anyone else has any more info it would be much appreciated. thanks.