Sterling silver salt spoon unclear date

[mickeyman]

Hi all

I have picked up a sterling silver salt spoon. The scene depicted on the face of the spoon is St. George killing the dragon (looks like the sovereign). If I have interpreted the hallmarks correctly, it is sterling and was made in London, but I haven't been able to match the date mark exactly.

Also, is there significance to there only being three marks instead of the usual five?

I have searched over the item and cannot find a mark for the maker. Is this common? The piece does not appear to be particularly well made when I compare it to similar pieces on selling sites.



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[larkfield]

The marks shown looks to me like London 1897, the date letter looks like an " b ", not too clear.
Only one mark for this year is missing, the maker. The fifth mark would be the Duty mark that applied 1.12.1784 - 1.5.1890
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[mickeyman]

Thank you. I had thought that a possibility but was unsure as on mine the cross-bar (serif-like thing) on top of the 'b' did not taper, whereas the one on the site seems to taper. But I don't know how significant the differences are among all the different fonts.
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