Postby agphile » Fri Dec 27, 2013 5:51 pm
Sorry for a delayed comment - we've been fully occupied with family over Christmas. However, I guess you may well be right about the NC mark. To be absolutely sure I suppose would require the unlikely opportunity to examine actual examples of the worn and unworn marks side by side.
A little while ago I found myself trying to find a tentative possibility for a maker with the initials NC because I had the mark NC conjoined on a couple of spoons, one dated 1682 and the other undated but of much the same time. This was not original research but simply a matter of looking for names in published sources. All I could come up with (from Heal) was Nicholas Cary ( or Carey/Carew). He was free in 1671 and in business at least until 1686. He was a Banker Goldsmith but in those days the bankers still dealt in silver as well. I cannot be sure whether he would have had an individual mark of his own because he was in partnership with Thomas Cook, However, I thought you would be interested to see that we do have one possible candidate for an NC mark and at least two if not three marks in search of such a maker!