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Hello,

I have recently aquired a London Charles 2 trefid spoon with the date mark for 1683. The makers mark is NC in a heart shaped punch with a fleur de lys below. The similar mark identified in Jacksons pg 135 2nd item has 4 pellets below, perhaps the trefid spoon from which this was identifed was worn and it is an easy confucion to attribute the 4 pellets from the four elements of the fleur de lys. Any thoughts?

Trevor

Sorry for a delayed comment - we've been fully occupied with family over Christmas. However, I guess you may well be right about the NC mark. To be absolutely sure I suppose would require the unlikely opportunity to examine actual examples of the worn and unworn marks side by side.

A little while ago I found myself trying to find a tentative possibility for a maker with the initials NC because I had the mark NC conjoined on a couple of spoons, one dated 1682 and the other undated but of much the same time. This was not original research but simply a matter of looking for names in published sources. All I could come up with (from Heal) was Nicholas Cary ( or Carey/Carew). He was free in 1671 and in business at least until 1686. He was a Banker Goldsmith but in those days the bankers still dealt in silver as well. I cannot be sure whether he would have had an individual mark of his own because he was in partnership with Thomas Cook, However, I thought you would be interested to see that we do have one possible candidate for an NC mark and at least two if not three marks in search of such a maker!

Hello,

Thank you for your reply. I read with interest what I assume was your articles from 2009 and 2011 on these two spoons whilst trawing through some back copies of journals for possible links or information to this NC mark, having exhausted other routes. If I can find anything further that enhances the research I will post it here.

Trevor