Salt spoon, possible duty dodger - WE makers mark

[user701]

Found this spoon today whilst walking the dog. It is a fiddle and thread salt spoon, with only WE on the back of the handle, I am wondering if this might be a duty dodger and if so, who is the maker?

Thanks in advance

[agphile]

English so-called duty dodgers are typically from the early or mid 18th century. The style of this spoon, as far as English patterns are concerned, would place it in the late 18th or 19th century when marks were normally struck at the top of the stem. There could still be reasons for not having a full set of marks in this later period but it would much more unusual. While there are makers with WE marks entered in the right period for this spoon (you can surely find some on the silvermakersmarks site if you do not have access to Grimwade to check for possible matches) my inclination is to think it is probably not actually English given the unusual placing of the maker's mark as well as the lack of hallmarks.

[user701]

I already checked through Phil's site, but with too many similar WE marks, it is not possible to determine who the maker was so far.

Thanks for your reply, I will have another look around on the web when I get more time later today.