www.925-1000.com

Well, I just bought this Towle sterling tea set today on impulse, thinking it would be a good gift for my parents for Christmas and my dad's birthday. I can safely say that this is the most expensive silver item I've ever bought, but my parents have done a lot for us, so I wanted this to be a token of our appreciation. In any case, since this was an impulse buy, I didn't really do a lot of research on it before pulling the trigger. I started doing some research online afterwards, but couldn't find any information on this tea set; even Replacements.com didn't have it in stock. So I'm thinking it's probably kind of rare.

Anyway, I believe they are likely an early set by Towle, with the Towle hallmark and the number 7622 on the bottom. The year "1908" is also monogrammed on each piece; maybe it's the wedding year or something. I'm glad it's the year that's monogrammed, which helps date the piece and hopefully doesn't affect the value too much. The teapot handles are made of wood, which the seller said was ebony wood, common for premium tea sets.

I'm looking for some help with the following:

• I couldn't find any information on the name of the set. Later sets are named Louis XIV, Old Master, or some other fancy name. Does anyone recognize this pattern?
• There's a little symbol below the 7622 that I don't recognize. It looks like "IIF" to my untrained eye. Could it be the name of the actual silversmith who made it?
• If it was indeed made around 1908, does that mean it was hand made?
• How rare is this set? Seems to be really hard to find online.
• Are the handles made of real ebony wood?

But really, any information you can share on this would be great. Thank you in advance!

Here are some images: