Interesting Heavy Stilton Scoop

[dartsil]

Somewhat of a heavy duty and because of this I thought I would display it here , It is hallmarked from London 1844 with makers mark being that of John Whiting.

Measures 182mm in length and weighs a very healthy 64 grammes.

[dognose]

Hi Colin,

That's another great item. It links nicely to two of the great names in flatware. John James Whiting learnt his trade in the great spoon manufactory of William Eaton and the scoop itself would likely have been made in what was the old Bateman workshops at Bunhill Row. Although Whiting did not register his move to Bunhill Row until July 1845, the registering of such information at Goldsmiths' Hall was usually well out of date as the informant most often would only let them know when he had need to personally attend the Hall, and sometimes there was years between visits.

Hopefully someone can identify the pattern.

Trev.

[dartsil]

Thanks for that Trev,
I did wonder about the pattern as I had not come across it before.

[agphile]

I don't know a name for the pattern. I have only seen it on flatware by Whiting and believe it was probably unique to him.While it is a rare pattern, I notice the occasional example from time to time.

David

[dognose]

The details from the Death Notice of John James Whiting can be found at: viewtopic.php?f=74&t=25275

Trev.

[dartsil]

Will anyone come up witha name for this pattern?

Surely it must have had a name even if only Whiting produced it?

[silverly]

Not a name, but I do see it referred to as cast cartouche.

[agphile]

I can understand how that term might come to be used although, strictly speaking, it is a misnomer because the pattern will have been die-stamped.

David

[silverly]

Thanks, I wouldn't have known one way or the other. The term cast in relation to this pattern is easy to find. I'm guessing because the pieces look heavy which of course doesn't automatically mean cast.

[agphile]

If the maker’s original pattern name was known I think the information would have surfaced somewhere. Why not just call it “Fiddle and Cartouche” by analogy with Fiddle and Shell etc? Combined with the name Whiting that would identify it for those interested in this particular pattern while serving as an adequate brief description more generally.

Incidentally, I agree with Silverly that it can be difficult to be certain whether an item was cast or not, particularly from a photograph. Flatware with heavy raised decoration often gets wrongly described as cast but this would in fact have been very unusual, at least as far as the UK is concerned. As always there are exceptions (such as the cast terminal on the Onslow pattern). However, in the case of this pattern, neither the example I own nor the others I have seen appear to have been cast so it seems safe to say the spoons were made normally.