Anthony Hedley of Durham

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carlislepaul
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Anthony Hedley of Durham

Post by carlislepaul »

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Gentlemen

A bright cut salt spoon with a repair where bowl joins stem, found in Northumbria.

I believe the top mark AH with a small o above to be Anthony Hedley of Durham 1789-1810, as registered at Newcastle, Jacksons pages 502 and 510.

A different AH mark appears along side.

His wife/daughter Jane Hedley continued from 1811 to 1822.

If I am correct, then why no Assay Office marks?

Unlikely to be a duty dodger, could it be for personal use?

I have checked Irish, Scottish and Colonial marks to no avail

Any information would be gratefully received.

Regards

Paul
MCB
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Re: Anthony Hedley of Durham

Post by MCB »

Hello Paul

It has to be asked why a maker would stamp his recognisable and registered mark on a piece of flatware if his intention was to evade Duty.
As you know the various Hallmarking Acts are based on the requirement to assay wares which are for sale. There is no reason to suppose a smith would deny himself the benefit of his work for his own table and, since he has no reason to believe these items are to be sold, might well decide the expense of assay and Duty is unwarranted. Unfortunately at the time of his death and disposal of his estate the authorities may well have an argument that his wares, although up to that point kept for personal use are, so to speak, "on the market" but it is doubtful they would chase the family to have these wares assayed and the Duty paid. In my view we may have such a result here and a spoon originally intended for Mr Hedley's own salt pot. If only we could find the salt pot similarly devoid of hallmarks!

Regards,
Mike
dognose
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Re: Anthony Hedley of Durham

Post by dognose »

Hi Paul,

Firstly, your thumbnail images enlarge very little when clicked on. This is a problem for some viewers, including me, when attempting to look at Photobucket links or thumbnails. Embedded images up to a max. of 7" would be appreciated and hopefully would increase the chances of a positive response.

Presuming that it is the mark of Anthony Hedley, then there are some facts to back to back up the likelihood of it. He was known to have made saltspoons (assay listings), and he was known to do Bright Cut work (newspaper advertisement).

Looking at the figures recorded for his assay submissions, it appears perhaps that he may have paid lip service only as to the assaying of silver to the Newcastle Assay Office, with some years entering zero submissions for silver (although every year he always submitted gold) and his most productive year, 1793, being just 65 oz.

So, the question is, was he just a small time worker in silver, or did he not have much of his work officially hallmarked? An advertisement that appeared in the Newcastle Courant on the 6th October 1792 reveals all:

'... on Tuesday the 2d day of October, inst, at Wolsingham Fair, in the county, was stolen from Mr Anthony Hedley, of the City of Durham, Silversmith, a pair of saddle-bags, containing several articles after specified; ...one other gilt watch, number not known, maker's name "Anthony Hedley, Durham".....Eight silver table spoons, four plated ditto, one dozen and half of cut silver teaspoons - Two dozen and a half of plain ditto - Eight pair of carved tea-tongs - Six pair of plated ditto - One pair double chape - Silver shoe buckles, open worked diamond cut - Three pair of smaller ditto single chape, diamond cut - One pair of ditto, open worked, plain tops, round corners - One pair of ditto plain threaded pattern, round corners - Two pair of plain ditto, square corners - One pair of plain ditto, round corners - Two pair of silver knee-buckles, bead pattern - Two pair of ditto, square pattern - One pair of round ditto; and six pair plated spurs. Whoever shall apprehend the person or persons, who stole the said goods, or shall be the means of their being apprehended shall receive a reward of Five Guineas from the said Anthony Hedley..........

Source: A Directory of Newcastle Goldsmiths - Margaret A. Gill

Headley's submissions for 1792 were a mere 11 oz. But I suppose if he was quizzed regarding the loss, he could have said that he was on the way to the assay office!

Trev.
carlislepaul
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Re: Anthony Hedley of Durham

Post by carlislepaul »

Mike & Trev

Thank you for the information, very interesting.

I was unaware of the Photobucket thumbnail problem.

Regards

Paul
MCB
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Re: Anthony Hedley of Durham

Post by MCB »

Hello again Paul

The concept of known and registered makers applying their recognisable marks to items for market without the appropriate assay marks, including the duty mark, in attempt to dodge the law seems to me generally invalid. Therefore, particularly in those times when the penalties imposed by the authorities for other relatively minor offences were so severe that the public might be expected to be risk averse, other reasons for infringements of the rules on hallmarking need to be considered first.
In view of Trev's evidence however my previous comments regarding a valid reason for Hedley's wares carrying no hallmarks seems less tenable.


Regards,
Mike
carlislepaul
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Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 2:11 pm
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Re: Anthony Hedley of Durham

Post by carlislepaul »

Mike

Thanks for the update.

Regards
Paul
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