www.925-1000.com

Could this crowned B hallmarking be from Sheffield?

Hi

It appears to be by Sheffield maker Creswick & Co with a date letter 1825 but with Queen Victoria duty mark which would not be right for this date.
Lets see what others think.

Martin

Hi Amena,

This is bizarre. Can you show us an image on the inscription?

Trev.

In fact, I don't have this item. It is part of a group of items on auction. The inscription is only partially visible.

Hi,
I always wondered what happened to many outdated punches; were they officially destroyed or kept somewhere ?
Hundreds and hundreds of outdated, changed and obsolete punches were probably kept in assay offices, but also lost or stolen during turbulent continental history.
One can assume Britain was a stable society and legislation was obeyed (more or less).
Queen Victoria duty mark cannot be expected for 1825. On the other hand, George IV similar to this mark was seen in Dublin 1825, but this is obviously a female head in profile and Sheffield date code. As Dognose mentioned; bizarre.

Btw. two vertical lines in a beaker are unusual.

Regards

Hello, from "silvermakersmarks" the 1825 date letter is an option with a lower case "b". Is not the mark a crowned upper case "B"? It still does not seem straight forward as the next "B" that is in Victoria's reign is 1845. That said the illustrated mark on "Phil's" web site for 1845 is a date letter cartouche containing a "B" but next to the crown, and not a crowned B. I cannot read the makers mark to see if it is in the right period for the maker. It would seem to me a variant mark for the upper case "B" is a likely possibility.
Fishless

I haven't joined in this discussion before now because I am also at a complete loss to explain these marks. However the date stamp is definitely from the earlier period. This form of the combined crown and date letter (crown over letter in a cut-corner rectangular punch) was used from 1822 to 1828. I have looked hard at the mark to see if there are any anomalies to indicate a pseudo-mark; the crown looks completely right for 1825. The maker's mark TJ&NC is also good for 1825; my dates-seen for this mark are 1819, when it was registered, to 1825 and a different form of the mark was registered c1827.

Phil

I am beginning to think these must be pseudo marks, the lion passant doesn't seem right.

Martin

I didn't think I posted such a complicated topic, but it's getting very interesting.
Thanks to everyone for the contribution.
Amena

There were some very strange looking lions on Sheffield hallmarks in the period so we can't say for certain that this particular one is too far from being right.