S Hallmark Coin Silver Spoon

[MrFi$her]

I am looking for any info on this spoon. I have 5 identical spoons.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/103238559@N08/

[Francais]

I thought I would wait to see if anyone recognized the mark, evidently not.
This pattern was most popular in Ohio, Ky, and MO. c. 1855 give or take about 15 years. I have never seen the mark in MO, and a friend who is, in my opinion, the leading authority on KY silver hasn't seen it. It does not appear in Betty Beckman's book on Cinci silver, nor did she have an example in her collection. I think a lot of this pattern was made by Kinsey, in Cinci and Jaccard in St. Louis, and then marked or backstamped by jewelers all over the area. Also the pattern also stretched to Illinois, Iowa, etc., for the same reason. In any case attributing a single letter mark is very difficult although occasionally possible. It is even more difficult as it might just be a retailer''s mark. I would say it is unlikely you will ever identify it, without provenance, sorry.
Maurice

[Francais]

I forgot to mention Indiana, where this pattern was popular too, but the mark isn't shown in that book either.
Maurice

[Essexboy Fisher]

Hello, I have not been to this section before but I just bought the spoon shown below. I knew what I was buying having found the E&D Kinsey mark in the USA reference section of 925-1000.


As a result of getting this spoon (it is 14.5 centimetres/about 6 inches long), I checked on the forum and found this post. I reviewed MrFi$hers photo and as Francais’s reply suggested might be the case, MrFi$hers spoon is a very close match to mine. My spoon is thin and easily bent. It does in fact have slight damage to its finial. The mark on the finial is a "J" monogram. I assume it is coin silver? What would this size of spoon be used for?
Yours
Fishless

[legrandmogol]

Hi, lovely spoon. at 6" its a teaspoon. Teaspoons in America had grown much larger than their European forbears. Around 1790 you start to notice the increase. There is usually about as much silver in these spoons as there is in their smaller British cousins though.

[Essexboy Fisher]

Thank you Legrandmogol for responding to my update to this post. This is a nice addition to my spoons and I hoped the photo might be useful for reference.
Yours
Fishless