www.925-1000.com

Generally noted as carving sets only and undated, a meat serving fork is shown in past auction listings and stamped Copyright 1890, as is also found on this nutcracker. Next to Sterling is a mark appearing like "3" or "5"....the meat fork had "8". The handles of tongs appear in another photo, but no background was provided. Does this all seem like a holiday entertainment set? Are there more items? Can we conclude 1890 is the start date?

The handles remind me of the hollow-handled bread forks of the time, perhaps a nutcracker will show up in an old catalogue (or CD-ROM) ::

The 1894 catalog page showing cutlery only: https://www.sterlingflatwarefashions.co ... /No75.html

Perhaps the great financial drawback of 1892-3 caused the pairing down of excess items. In 1909, nut cracks were already available options in most of their standard sterling lines so buying extra ones in another pattern might have just been unpopular, especially if the odd carving sets were only used for special occasions to dress-up the feast. That serving fork was rather unique as it appeared to be a one piece item with details running down to the three tines..not like these hollow handles coupled to the steel parts. I'm betting there should be a nut pick out there somewhere and maybe an example of each of a few more special duty items. I didn't pull up any old records of No. 75 from Worth Point, but that might just be a fluke.