Can you help identify this antique tea caddy shell spoon???

[Snoopie]

I have searched every website but I cannot place the figure head. Is the maker B. Is the date T? Very curious and thanks in advance!


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[salmoned]

'B' would be the date letter, 'T' would be the final letter in the sponsor's mark.
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[Tongtwister]

Hi,

Probably London 1797/8. The "B" is the date letter & the head is the duty mark. Can't quite make out whether it is clipped or not, (little pieces cut out of bottom & one side of the duty mark). If not clipped then dated 29th May 1797 to 5th July 1797. If it is clipped then dated 6th July 1797 to 29th May 1798. The "T" is the second of the 2 letters of the maker's mark & there are several possibilities for that date. Having said all that the Lion, date letter & Duty head are in the "wrong" order for London of that date & the Lion looks a bit like the Exeter Lion, in whch case it would be 1798/99, in which case the only Exeter maker of that period I know of with second letter "T" would be Francis Trowbridge junior.
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[Granmaa]

I would disagree: it does not look like an Exeter lion to me. Also, as far as I know, lion - date - duty is not in the wrong order. I've attached an example of the previous year (1796) to show this.

It will be hard to identify the maker unless you can see the first initial. This may not be easy because it looks like it has been repaired at that point.

Miles


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