Set of 7 spoons London 1776 : who is the maker?

[dinio]

Dear forum members,

I would need your help to identify the maker of a rather interesting set of spoons. This set is made of 3 large spoons and 4 dessert spoons. They have a simple style but their handle has some decoration on the edges and are engraved on top with a lion.

Here are the pictures of the set, and an enlargment of one spoon to show its style.



As I am not a specialist in spoons, I do not know their style name, nor I know if it is common. Could somebody tell me the name of this style and how we can designate the decoration on the edge of the handle? Was this decoration usual at that time ?


As far as hallmarks are concerned, they are legible on some spoons whereas on other they are completely worn. Nevertheless I drew some conclusions from a close examination:
- the lion passant can be seen on the 7 spoons without difficulty
- the leopard's head is legible on 3 spoons, can be guessed on 3 others and only its external shape can be recognized on the last one.
- the small letter 'a', clearly visible on 3 spoons, hardly noticeable on another one, and invisible on the 3 other spoons indicates the year 1776-7.
- the maker's marks look identical, except for one dessert spoon where it seems that the mark has been struck in the opposite way of the others. This reversed mark is very important to confirm the bottom part of the maker's mark as this bottom part is worn on all other spoons except the 3rd one. Finally it seems that the mark is composed of the script letters SH.

Here is the picture showing the 7 sets of marks, depicted in the same order used in the above photo showing the set of spoons. The 3 first sets correspond to the large spoons and are quite legible, and the next 4 sets correspond to the dessert spoons and are almost worn, but we can make out some of them:




The problem is that I was not able to identify the maker of this set. I found 2 makers with script SH mark but their mark does not fit the one of this set (Susan'h Hatfield 1739-? and Sam Herbert 1747-). Could somebody help identifying the maker ?

Do you think that my conclusion that this set is consistent, made by the same maker, at the same period is valid?

Finally, I would like to ask if somebody knows the signification of the emblem engraved at the top of the handle. I know that the lion passant is the emblem of England, but when used alone in a coat-of-arms, it designated the Duke of Guyenne. The king of England had 3 lions passant in its coat of arms. Is this emblem the symbol of some english institution instead of the symbol of a family? I apologize for my poor knowledge of these topics but I am not english at all. Here is a picture of this emblem:




It is the first set of old silver spoons that I acquired, and I wonder if it is common or not. Any opinion about this would be appreciated.

I thank you in advance for your help.

Regards
Dinio
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[Granmaa]

Dinio,

It does look like they are all of the same set.

They were made in 1776 London by Hester Bateman; the mark is HB not SH.
The style is often called Old English with feather edge or Old English feather.

The engraving is called a crest and is the top part of a family's coat of arms. For instance in my picture, the goat would be the crest. It's very hard to identify the family simply by the crest, because very often more than one family used it with their coats of arms. This lion is not passant, it would probably be called a lion sejant guardant: old French for sitting and guarding I think.

Miles


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[dinio]

Thank you very much Miles,

I am really confused to have misunderstood the direction of the maker's marks. The one I thought struck in the reverse way was indeed the only one aligned with the date mark and the lion passant! What a beginner I am!

But I am also really pleased to learn that this set was made by Esther Bateman, because I read that she was one of the most famous ladies and silversmiths in England in the late 18C!

In fact it is more than a pleasure, it is really exciting, because this set of spoons is linked to a set of forks made 80 years later by Elizabeth Eaton, another renowned female silversmith!

I explain:
- in 1783, two table spoons with a very close pattern and with the same crest were added (I have not identified the maker yet), leading to a set of 5 table spoons and 4 dessert spoons
- in 1794, 1 dessert spoon in exactly the same pattern than the 1776 one was added as well as a cream ladle in a different pattern (no decoration on the edges of the handle). Both are from the same maker (not yet identified) and have the crest engraved. Then the set was made of 11 items (5 table spoons, 5 dessert spoons and 1 cream ladle)
- 60 years later, in 1854, the set was completed by 5 table forks and 5 dessert forks, in the same pattern than the 1783 one, and still with the engraved crest. The maker's mark of these forks is EE within two interleaved circles and corresponds to Elizabeth Eaton. Then the set was made of 21 items.
- after that the whole set came to France and the forks were hallmarked with an import mark valid until the 1870s (not the spoons nor the ladle, perhaps because they were too old ?).
- They stayed in France for 140 years or so where I discovered them recently.

I think that this link between these 2 renowned female silversmiths is quite interesting. What is also interesting is that the crests of these 4 different sets are slightly different, showing some particularities in the engraving techniques and in the artistic feelings of the makers (and also proving that the engraving was made at that dates).

By the way, you did not mentioned the pattern name. Do you know it ?

Thanks again for your very usefull help.

Dinio
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[dinio]

Sorry for my question about the pattern name in my above post. I did not read your answer carefully, Miles, probably because I was so pleased with the Hester Bateman identification.

Dinio
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[Granmaa]

My pleasure Dinio.

Could we possibly see a picture of the import mark on the forks? I'd be interested to see it.

Miles
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[dinio]

Here are the pictures corresponding to these forks : the set of 5 tables forks and 5 dessert forks, a close up of the hallmarks, and en enlargement of the import mark for France. This import mark represents a weevil ('un charançon' in french) and was valid from 10-05-1838 until 30-05-1864. After that this weevil was still used but within different external shapes: first an oval (1864-1893) and then a rectangle (1893-now).
Jointly with the date letter, it means that the set (probably the whole set) entered France between 1854 and 1864.

The set of forks


The hallmarks on these forks


An enlargement of the french import mark



For the itermediate sets which make the link between Hester Bateman and Elizabeth Eaton, I made a confusion in the letter dates.
The first set of 2 large spoons was made in 1791-2 (small letter q) with a maker's mark of WE above WF in a square, whereas the set of 1 dessert spoon and 1 sauce ladle was made in 1807-1808 (capital letter B) with a maker's mark of GS above WF in a square. Help in identification would be appreciated.

Dinio
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[Granmaa]

Have you got the makers and the dates mixed up here?

WEWF stands for William Eley and William Fearn and started in 1797. GSWF is for George Smith and William Fearn and I think they worked together from 1786-1797.

Miles
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[dinio]

Sorry again, you are right: WE-WF is on the spoons with capital letter B, and GS-WF is on the spoon with small letter q. Moreover I made a mistake with one date: capital letter B indicates year 1797-8.

For the sake of completeness here are the 4 sets of marks punched on these items:

1776:


1791:


1797:


1854:


For what concern the weevil mark, it seems that there is something under this pest. Perhaps it is what is called in french a 'différent', a small drawing added to the content of the mark and which allows to identify the assay office. In this case I hesitate between LIMOGES and MENDE (2 french towns). But I am not sure if the weevil import mark was supposed to bear such a distinctive sign. Any idea on this ?

Thank you again, Miles, for your help in identifying the makers. Where can I find more detailed information on them (period active, adress, speciality, ...) ?

Dinio
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[Granmaa]

I don't know much at all about French silver, but my international hallmark book doesn't say anything about letters beneath the weevil.

All the information you asked for (except on Elizabeth Eaton) is in a book called LONDON GOLDSMITHS 1697-1837: THEIR MARKS & LIVES by A. Grimwade. I don't have my copy to hand at the moment but I'm sure another member will help you.

Miles
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