Sheffield Hallmark - "S&Co."

[atashadog]

I am having difficulty identifing the hallmarks on a sterling fish set. The forks and knives have the lion passant and crown leading me to believe the set is sterling and made in Sheffield in 1899. However, when I research the maker "S&Co." in Sheffield, nothing turns up. There are several S&Co.'s in Great Britian but, none of the appear to be correct.

[silvermakersmarks]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

S&Co is Spurrier & Co. They were a Birmingham company, but as Sheffield was the centre of the cutlery (knife making) trade, it was no doubt more efficient for them to use the Sheffield Assay Office for this sort of ware and they first registered a mark at Sheffield in 1892. Only the collars are silver, the rest being electroplated. The monogram in your last picture combines the letters S&CO and is a distinctive mark of Spurrier & Co.

Phil

[dognose]

Spurrier & Co. - Birmingham - 1892

Trev.