re provenance, John Coney spoons

[ninothedog]

Hi Group - These spoons were passed down in the Coney family to Sally Gay Coney (1801-1875) who left them to her granddaughter, Ava Harvey Hersey (1858-1954) who gave them as a wedding gift to my parents in 1947. The (unwritten) story that accompanied the spoons is that they were made by Boston silversmith John Coney in the late 17th century for himself. They are not, unfortunately, hallmarked. John Coney was an early Boston silversmith. His last apprentice, Apollo Revoir, was the father of Paul Revere and Coney's influence on Revere is supposed to have been significant. -- These spoons are clearly very old and, if we can prove their provenance, probably of some value, so my question is, beyond family lore, how could we establish that the spoons are what we believe they are? Coney was also an engraver, but I can find no examples of his engraving to compare with the monogram 'C' except a couple of letters on other pieces where the letters were Roman rather than script. Any thoughts are appreciated. The spoons are 5-3/8" long and very light. I didn't have a scale but I would guess the 6 combined wouldn't weigh much more than an ounce.

[ninothedog]

oops - I meant Ada Harvey Hersey, not Ava Harvey Hersey.

[agphile]

Sorry to say that stylistically the spoons look early 19th century, certainly not late 17th century.

[ninothedog]

Thanks, Agphile, for the response. I'm hard put to find similar American coin silver spoons as old as we thought these spoons were, so I suspect you're right that they're not John Coney's. Coney did work until about 1720 (d. 1722) but the monogram is shaky enough that it probably wouldn't be attributable to an engraver and his late work was more ornate than this. I do find many spoons similar to these, in form and in how the bowl is connected, from the mid 1700s on. Is there something specific that makes you think 19th rather than 18th century? -- What we know for sure if that Miss Hersey inherited them from her grandmother, who inherited them herself, and passed them on to my father because of his Coney ancestry. She was a wealthy woman and would have wanted to give my parents a substantial gift and a lightweight set of teaspoons wouldn't have cut it in 1947 without there being something special about them. She did collect silver (so much so that my grandmother said much of it was simply thrown out when they emptied her house,) so she must have believed they had some historic value. I hope that whatever it was she considered special about them doesn't remain a mystery, but I bet it probably will. -- If I don't find that they have any special significance, at least I'll get to put a nice shine on them. :)

[agphile]

I think a surviving set of spoons with an ownership provenance that takes them back 200 years or so is of real interest even if the cash value does not match that of 300 year old spoons.

As regards how to date them, the most obvious feature is the "coffin end" to the stem, a typical American style that does not appear until the 19th century (or possibly very late 18th). The overall fiddle pattern shape is again more typical of the 19th century. The combination of bowl shape, fiddle pattern with down-turned coffin end stem and the form of the heel (junction of stem with back of bowl) is diagnostic. The engraved C is also in a late 18th or 19th century style. You need to look at the whole spoon rather than try to find matches for individual features. If you look up coffin end fiddle pattern spoons I think you will find you have pretty typical examples.

[ninothedog]

Thanks for the additional info, Agphile. I'll look into them further when I get a chance. I appreciate your input.