Farrington & Hunnewell

[RuthKnits]

My mother has 4 Farrington & Hunnewell spoons. One of them is marked 'coin', but the rest are not. Are they all coin silver, or could some be sterling? I know quite a bit about Canadian silver but virtually nothing about American silver. Thanks for this great site of hallmarks. Ruth
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[2209patrick]

Hello Ruth.
That would be John Farrington and George W. Hunnewell, Boston, Massachusetts.
The firm may have been in business as late as 1880.



If they are not marked .925 or sterling they are likely coin silver.

Pat.
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[RuthKnits]

Thanks, Patrick,
My great-grandfather (A. S. Hay) was a silversmith in Saint John, New Brunswick from 1859-1921. He used to buy up old scrap silver to make into new spoons but if anything interesting turned up, he would bring it home to use instead of melting it down. I just visited my 80-year-old mother and we had fun going through her silver chest. I was surprised at how much American silver there was amongst the Canadian. The Farrington and Hunnewell spoons were so delicate and such a beautiful shape that they really caught my eye. Great-grandfather obviously would have agreed!
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[2209patrick]

That's interesting about your great-grandfather Ruth.
I'll bet his full name was Albert Stephen Hay.



If you could manage some pictures of his marks I think we could get Tom (admin) to post them on this site.
How to Add Images

Best wishes,
Pat.
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[RuthKnits]

You're right, Patrick. I think I have both A.S. Hay and A. & J. Hay hallmarks around. I'll try my hand at the digital camera and see what I can do about getting images to Tom. I have about a half a dozen other Saint John silversmiths' work so I'll start polishing. I'm not sure where to post Canadian information because the forum seems to have American and European sections but not Canadian. Ruth
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[2209patrick]

That would be great Ruth. You can post the pictures here.
Tom would probably put them in the American marks catagory. We don't have many Canadian marks yet. Canadian and American coin silver marks are very similar. So. putting them there makes it easier for someone new to the site.

Pat.
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