Unusual etched teaspoon - Frank W. Smith?

[reylocann]

I hope you can help identify this sterling silver teaspoon! I have searched and searched and have come up with nothing thus far.... I recently acquired six of the pictured teaspoon from the vast array of oddments in my grandmother's silver chest. Interestingly, these are the only sterling pieces I've come across that have a monogram on the underside of the handle. I believe the "S" maker's mark can be attributed to Frank W. Smith. "C.A. Bannister" I have learned is the name of a silver/watch/jewelry shop that existed in Auburn, New York around the turn of the century [1900]. My Grandmother lived there her whole life so it makes sense. Needless to say, The C.A. Bannister Co. is no longer in business and I'm not even sure how long they were there so no luck down that avenue. Anyway, I've scoured the books in the library and spent [way too many] hours online and haven't seen anything remotely similar. The only thing I did find was on the Replacements web site where they have listed a F.W. Smith napkin ring ["Hollowware #10] with etched leaves that sort of look like the leaves on my spoon. I've exhausted all the resources I can think of and now humbly bow to the greater wisdom of the experts!
Thanks in advance for any information you may have that helps me solve this mystery!

[oel]

Hi Reylocann,

Welcome to the forum.

Yes, I believe you could be right the mark does look like; The Frank W. Smith Silver Co ...1886-1958.



Regards,

Oel

[salmoned]

I agree. However, you have 6 of these and this is the best [and only] photo of the mark you could present? ;)

[reylocann]

Sorry Salmoned - was trying to stick to the guidelines regarding number and size of photos. Thanks for taking the time to look and for your input! The marks look pretty much the same on all the spoons, and the original photo [top on this posting] is the spoon that has retained the most detail. The others are quite worn. With my limited photography skills and mediocre camera this is about the best I'm going to be able to do. Hope these help. Also added close-ups of the top design and monogram underneath. Each spoon is slightly different from the others so I am certain these were engraved by hand one at a time. I'm wondering if these started out as F.W. Smith "Windsor Plain [1895]" spoons and maybe they were done just for Mr. Bannister's clientele??? Don't know if that was customary back in the day..... Again - many thanks in advance for any and all insights offered!

[dragonflywink]

Hi ~ They're engraved rather than etched (etching is an acid process); engraved patterns like yours were very popular in the 1880s and were made by numerous manufacturers, production continued into the early 1900s. Most were engraved in-house by the manufacturers, but no reason at all that they couldn't have been done at the retailer. They were usually done on basic plain patterns like Antique or Windsor; the manufacturers often just assigned the different patterns a simple numeric designation, but sometimes named them, usually a description of whatever the engraving depicted. A quick look through my pattern guides only finds the Smith engraved patterns Jac Rose and No. 9 (a wheat motif), though I've also seen Engraved Lily by Smith. Yours is quite pretty. with the five-petaled blossoms and serrated-edge leaves, looks to me like Wild Rose; truthfully, I can't really tell from your pics whether the handle is Windsor or the bit earlier French Antique.

Below is an 1897 ad for C.A. Bannister, mentioning "Fine Engraving".

~Cheryl