Help with American coin spoon - 1800's

[carl1000]

I found this one Detecting in Virginia (Lynchburg) I think it was plunder from the troops at the time. On the top of the spoon...HENDERSON is engraved on it. The marks are W.U.V.... it think. Where was it made? Thanks for any help.





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[wev]

The middle character is an &, not a U. The mark is for (Jehu) Williams & (John) Victor, working together in Lynchburg from 1814 to 1845.
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[carl1000]

Thanks for the help!
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[outwest]

You know what strikes me is the thickness of the silver. Since it's probably been buried all these years it hasn't been polished or used. Even though coin silver (which this must be) seems to hold up better then sterling, this spoon (if the photo is accurate) is particularly thick! Have you tried cleaning it up?

What fun to have a metal detector smack in the middle of the civil war hotbed!
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[wev]

I suspect he'll let the auction winner do that. . .

The thickness of the silver, by itself, does not indicate anything. The gauge used varied dramatically from maker to maker, region to region, era to era.
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[outwest]

That brings up a question (yah, yah, I'm loaded with them).

I have noticed on a lot of the auction sites the silver is left unpolished. They always say something dumb like, "The pleasure of the polishing is left to the winner."

It seems to me that an unpolished piece could easily hide a lot of problems, particularly on a larger piece. Is that the reason why someone would not polish a piece that obviously would look prettier and more saleable all shiny? If it's not, then why don't they polish them? Are they really virtuous enough to think the new owner is just dying to polish it?

I hate dealing with people who try to get away with something from a gullible person. I may be ignorant about a lot of things to do with old silver, but I am not a stupid person and would certainly do my homework before bidding on anything unpolished (and I probably wouldn't bid on it).

Am I being silly and untrusting?
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[Smaug]

Some folks don't want there silver polished. Some want it as found. Several dealers will polish the coin silver for you but they use Buffers as they have to polish so much that they don't have the time, and buffing Coin silver removed the Patina.... I personally don't want it buffed to chrome mirror surface, also buffing will deminish the engravings as well... Just an opinion...
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