for help

[zlhiker]

hello,i get a fork ,it is a very fine silver at my first look.(picture No.1)but i watch it again and again,i find something is confused.the detail is not very good.(picture No.2 and 3)the marks is very flat not like usual.(picture No.4)i need someone to tell me--it is a really old silver or a fake .thanks .

[dognose]

Hi,

Looks fine to me. Perhaps it has just taken a few knocks over the years.

The spoon was made by Martin,Hall & Co. (Richard Martin and Ebenezer Hall), of the Shrewsbury Works, Sheffield.

It was assayed at Sheffield in 1867.

See: http://www.925-1000.com/dlSheffield3.html#M

Trev.

[zlhiker]

thanks your reply,but i have a little question .the pictures show the flaw do not like knocked .in my opinion --when it was made by mould,the red-hot silver (liquid) was taken into the matrix.it should be cooled and taken out. but the fork was not cooled enough,some detail was not very strong for taken out .the grume happened.that is reason those flaws showed.do you think so? please tell me your idea.thanks .

[dognose]

To my knowledge, such pieces were struck in dies, not moulds. Hopefully someone better clued up on manufacturing techniques can answer the question.

Trev.

[agphile]

Dies were (and are) relatively expensive. I think firms varied in how strict their quality control was but some certainly continued to use dies that had developed small flaws. Somewhere I have a set of three die-struck serving spoons from c. 1900, all with a similar imperfection in exactly the same place so clearly the result of a flaw in the die.

[zlhiker]

thank you very much .