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Hello, this is my first post here!

I found this silver spoon handle while metal detecting, it says WW to (J)P on the front, so I assume it was some sort of gift.
On the back there is a lion passant (indicating sterling, I know this much) and has the initials ER.
After hours of research I have come up with the names Enos Reeves and Edward Revere, from New Jersey and Boston, Ma, respectively. Edward Revere would make more sense, because I live in Western Massachusetts, but I have no images of his hallmark to compare it to. The hallmark of Enos Reeves is similar, but not an exact match. If anyone has ever seen this mark before, or has any information about it at all, that would be greatly appreciated.
I've exhausted my internet resources, and I don't know how to conclude this. I believe it to have been made between 1775-1800.
Thanks in advance for any information!

-Anthony

Hi,

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Oel.

Oh, wow, silly me! I forgot the pictures!

I'm not a spoon man but if the Lion Passant is not a colonial copy, then the spoon was assayed in England, and the ER is an English, almost certainly London maker. The Lion Passant looks to have a slight indent to the left had side and my immediate thought is that it's the "cottage loaf " lion of the 1740 - 1756 period.

However, the style of the handle is not in keeping with the 1740s/1750s. More late 18th or early 19th century. Difficult to judge on the basis of a broken and worn relic, but it looks provincial or colonial to me. If it is English, I cant help with a confident identification of ER. I wonder from the photo whether there was another letter or symbol after the R, but that might just be the combination of screen and my eyesight confusing me.

Hi Anthony,

I've never seen a lion passant quite like that on an English spoon. Also, the feathering around the border is unlike British work. I'd go for a colonial origin.

Miles

Yes, I was pretty certain it was of Colonial American origin, based on what else had been found in that field (coins and relics of the same era, etc, as well as another colonial silver spoon handle.) The mystery continues!

Hello, I am reposting this, because I never got anything definitive.
I dug this spoon handle up in a farm field in Western Massachusetts, in an area that goes back to the 1600s.
Now, I do not believe it to be that old, probably late 1700s.
However, I do not know for sure. The front says W W to J P. The other side shows a lion passant and the initials ER in a rectangle.
I have come up with two possibilities for a maker (assuming it was made in America) and those are Enos Reeves and Edward Revere (nephew of Paul Revere). However I have no concrete evidence of who it was made by. I would appreciate any help! Thank you!

I have to say, your photo of the maker's mark makes it almost impossible to help you. However you can make the comparison here:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.anc ... ials/e.htm
Or perhaps take a better photo,.
Maurice