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I just picked up 6 spoons and 6 forks in a "mixed lot" of silver plated flatware. I think I've identified the maker as Watson & Gillott of Sheffield and the pattern as "Fulwood" (confirmation/correction welcomed).

These are the marks


and these are the pieces


I did a web search and found these pieces on just one site where, thankfully, the author names the pattern. The author goes on to describe these as a fish fork and fish knife. I'm not certain I'm convinced that's what these are, especially with regard to the lower piece, my first reaction to which was that it's a marrow spoon, though admittedly and odd one if so.

The "spoon" is very shiny and difficult to photograph, but below I've tried to show two characteristics that make me think it's not a knife:

1. It's cross section is curved:


2. It's very thick and does not taper to an edge. To try and show this, I photographed the tip resting on top of a standard dinner knife blade for comparison:


On the flip side, this spoon is big. It's 204 mm (8-1/16") long and the bowl is 25 mm (1") wide at its widest. You would have to be eating some big bones to use it as a marrow spoon!

Post in haste, repent at leisure...

Now I've found this silverware at several web sites, and others are saying it's from the "Heritage Collection" by George Butler of Sheffield. I don't know what to believe, now.

And yet another says it was designed by James Ryals of England. Someone end my agony, so I can go back to working on German silver!

Hi,

The reg number should read 823501. I have some everyday pieces of the same pattern, mine are made by Ryals. However, the other attributions may also be correct. Let's say that Ryals registered the design (just guessing), after say five years and sales start to fall off, then they may sell off or licence production to another firm who may then market the range under a new name, especially if they are exporters. So over the years, 823501 may have been made by several manufacturers and sold under several different names.

I guess that these are fish knives, the forks definitely are for fish, with the traditional indents between the prongs and handle. If you had just one, I would have gone for a butter knife for sure, but as you have six... although there is always the possibility that originally they were part of a large service, and when broken up, the butter knives got added to the fish forks.

The origins of the this classic Deco design surely lie with Walter Belk and the RMS Queen Mary, see: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=23720

Trev.

You're right, I did misread the number. I should have looked at the numbers on all the pieces because it's more clearly "5" on some of the others. But I don't feel to badly. If you do a web search on either number coupled with "Fulwood," you get about the same number of hits, so I'm not the only one misreading it.

And I'm obviously not familiar with "reg numbers," or I'd have realized the number was not an indicator of the maker – the hazard of specializing in a single German company (WMF), I guess. I just bought a couple of sizable "mixed lots" because they had some WMF in them, so I suspect I'll be learning a lot as I go through them. If I think it's fun, does that mean I'm OC?

Thanks for helping.

Can anyone help me post a pic of a spoon I have ?

Hi,

Welcome to the Forum.

Please start a new topic. The below should help you:

How to Add Images

Posting Requirements

http://www.postimg.com is recommended. Embedded images get a far greater response than just posting links.

Remember to use the 'Preview' button before submitting your post.

Give some time to creating your posts and photos, we'll give some time to researching and answering them.

For more information see:

http://www.925-1000.com/forum/viewtopic ... 82#p103282

Trev.