T J Creswick hallmark confusion

[Purple89]

Hello,

I have a pair of military serving spoons and I'm trying to date them. I know the arrows means they are T J Creswick silver plate but I'm not sure what the rest of the hallmarks mean as this is kinda new to me. I can read that it says WH&S but the next two I'm not sure about one looks like a B. The ends reads MPA1.

Any help that someone can give me will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[dognose]

Hi,

Welcome to the Forum.

Firstly, it's not a hallmark. A hallmark is a mark struck onto precious metals by an official assay office. What we have here is a maker's mark only.

The maker was William Hutton & Sons of Sheffield, see: http://www.925-1000.com/silverplate_H3.html

The 'crossed arrows' mark was originally the trade mark of the Sheffield firm of T.& J. Creswick, they first registered the mark in 1811. In 1902 this business, now styled Creswick & Co. and their trade mark, were acquired by William Hutton & Sons Ltd. Hutton's themselves were acquired by James Dixon & Sons Ltd. in the early 1930's.



William Hutton & Sons Ltd. - Australian trade mark registration


The 'BP' marks stand for 'British Plate' a name used by Hutton's for their particular form of plating. The 'A1' mark is their quality indicator, ie, their best quality.

Trev.