Birmingham silver cane top - help with dating and silversmit

[Ondrej_Dohnal]

hello, im new to this forum and my english isnt superb.
can u help me with my found? I found this silver cane top burried in ground in czech republic where iam living. I believe its from Birmingham but dont know which silversmith it is and which dating...maybe its pre 1773??? makers mark is something like "WAB"?or maybe "WAR"??? i will be happy if somebody can help me with my problem, i cant sleep because of it...:)




thanks for info relating to this
Andrew

[georgiansilver]

The date of your item, which you are right is from Birmingham, is 1876-7 but from the mark I cannot make out who the maker is. Best wishes, Mike.

[Ondrej_Dohnal]

hello, thanks for info! may i ask something? are u really sure of this date? because this motive seems to me much more older...i checked hallmarks on this site today and this letter may be from this year but another hallmark with "head" is missing. should it be older than 1773? because somebody told me that in birmigham it was produced since end of 17. century. and anchor hallmark isnt staying but lies. can i find somewhere complete list of makers marks for birmingham from the beginning to date??? thanks once more for any info. I wish this would be older than 1876:)

[Ondrej_Dohnal]

mark is 100% W A....third letter can be only B, R, or F. did such silversmith exist???

[georgiansilver]

I am quite sure of the date. On early Birmingham hallmarks and there would most certainly be a duty mark for any period covering the style of the cane top. Best wishes, Mike.

[admin]

1876 for sure, I'm pretty sure the last letter of maker is "F". Other possibility is that this is the "F" for imported, stamped exceedingly close to a sponsor's mark, the corrosion makes for a difficult reading.

Tom