Postby dragonflywink » Fri Oct 11, 2013 6:38 am
The first time I saw this mark was many years ago, on a somewhat loose reproduction of the English 'Pudsey Spoon', can be found advertised in several American catalogs from the first decade of the 20th century. There's been discussion of the marks and the items bearing them, on another forum for well over a decade, with numerous examples offered, as well as catalog pages showing them - personally have run across them in catalogs and advertisements from 1901 to 1917, the earlier pages showing several different pieces, petering down to only a few in later publications. A number were 'Arts & Crafts' type designs, and some were fanciful versions of 'Early American' pieces, they were hand-made, but the execution isn't what most would consider top-notch. Several sizes of the spoon shown here are found in a 1901 Daniel Low catalog, described as, "hand made facsimilies of the work of the early silversmiths and are so finished as to have every appearance of a very old piece of silver." In addition to showing up in catalogs and ads, they're also are found with additional stamps from a number of different retailers - the manufacturer isn't known, but some similarities in design, as well as in some marks, suggest there may be a connection to the Merrill Shops.
~Cheryl
