Sterling "clam shell" spoon. Maker? Hallmark hard

[jimkola]

Good Morning,


I've spent alot of time trying to figure this one out. I wanted to give an honest effort before yelling "uncle"
Fine. "Uncle". Happy?
Just teasing!
Finally going through Mom's silverware. She has saved over 5 generations of family silver. This is one of the few I haven't been able to ID. Hallmark very hard to see. I even tried using a felt tip and wiping away excess to highlight-barely helped. This is not a small spoon. It's about the size of a large table spoon. The edge of the bowl has a light serration. Got some heft, too.
Any help, heck even questions would be appreciated.
Merry Christmas to all
JIM

[jimkola]

Oh, by the way

In the hallmark we're pretty confidant the middle character is an anchor.
My fiance feels the first character is an "R". I'm not quite as sure of this-but I don't argue. Wanna have a Merry Christmas, Too.
The last character MAY be a modified "W"

Jim

[admin]

Congratulations, a beautiful example of the Hizen pattern of 1883 by Gorham. Hizen is a "Japanesque" style pattern from the Aesthetics Movement period and I think multi-motif, meaning there were variations in the designs used to ornament the handles.
The marks can be checked at Gorham Marks & Date Codes

Regards, Tom

[jimkola]

I went to Replacements.com and looked at the Hizen pattern. I don't know how you did it-hats off to you!!

I had focused my initial attention on a few makers-Whiting, wright Kay, Reed Barton, and especially Gorham. Seems this was the family preference.
I missd this since it appears each different utensil in the Hizen line had different designs. This must have been a fairly exclusive pattern with this much variety

Again, I'm impressed. Thank you very much

Jim