silver spoon, London ? any guess with date, cheers

[populous38]

SILVER SPOON - Stretched hallmarks. Very rubbed. Clear makers mark. Can anyone hazard a guess as to date. Leopards head, only chin left, but punch mark appears to have a flat bottom. Only a little of date letter left, but punch mark appears to be pointed at base. Maker I.S Still trying to work out how to post images, won't seem to upload. Appreciated. Gary

[dognose]

Hi Gary,

mmm.. It's a difficult one.. My guess would be Joseph Smith I, and 1734 maybe for the date of assay. Smith was apprenticed to Benjamin Watts, a known spoonmaker.

I'm not sure what to make of that Leopard's head, but the spoon would not have looked anything like that originally, it would have been a quite plain Hanoverian pattern, and 'improved' (clobbered!) in Victorian times.

It would be good to hear the thoughts of others.

(BTW, great job with the images)

Trev.

[populous38]

Thanks Trev, appreciated. Regarding the images, I found the answer was resizing them, as it allows you to do, to message board size, before uploading them on to tiny pic. Again, appreciated. Gary