assist with mark and function

[bubba]

Does anyone recognize the maker's mark on this piece?

What would the function of this unusual shaped piece be?


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Thank you in advance for your comments and replies.
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[SilverSurfer]

Looks like James Watts (I had the same question a while back). See this link:

viewtopic.php?t=6289

The spoon appears to be a sugar sifter, used for sprinkling fine sugar over various deserts and such.

SS
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[Granmaa]

I'm not very familiar with American flatware, but could it have been converted?

Miles
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[SilverSurfer]

Miles, if by converted, you mean something akin to "berryizing", I don't know. This site lists Watts' working period as 1835-1850, the end of which seems to me to be somewhat early for this kind of twisted handle, serrated bowl edge type of work. But such froo-froo is typically later than the era in which I'm mainly interested, and I don't pay much attention to it, so I might well be wrong as to when it started coming into style. Essentially all the "berryizing" I remember seeing is on Brit spoons, usually on Old English or Hanoverian pattern, and was done, I think, in the later nineteenth century. I can't remember seeing it on American spoons, or even much on Brit Fiddle Pattern spoons. I don't think there was much "conversion" done on American spoons at all, certainly not like the amount of "berryizing" done on the Brit work.

SS
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[Granmaa]

I didn't mean berrification; the holes in the bowl seem a bit incompatible with the spoon, especially since the bowl is fluted.

Miles
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[Trefid]

I've seen a ton of James Watts flatware, and I've never seen holes in a shell-shaped bowl like that. I think they've been added so the sugar shell or preserve spoon could become a sugar sifter.
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