Nicely decorated spoon

[Jag]

I really like the decoration on this spoon. Can anyone identify the maker? T&S? With an anchor?

[dognose]

Hi Jag,

A.F. Towle & Son. See: http://www.925-1000.com/americansilver_T2.html

and: viewtopic.php?f=38&t=42004&hilit=towle

Trev.

[Jag]

Hey, thank you for the reply. I think of Towle as a big manufacturing company. Do you think this decoration (which looks hand-done) would have been done at the factory, or done by an engraver on a blank from Towle?

[dognose]

I would think it was done at the factory. I'm not sure about the technical side of things, but in those days such production was still incredibly labour-intensive.

I have a set of teaspoons by Roberts & Belk of Sheffield, they have the most amazing hand-engraved work applied to them, but what is even more amazing is that they are only silver-plated. I think we struggle today to understand the concept of the time that spent making wonderful pieces.

Trev.

[silverly]

The retailer may be Herman Anson Stone of Saint Paul, Minnesota.

[dognose]

If it is the man in question:

H. A. Stone, formerly manager of the Stone Jewelry Co., St. Paul, Minn., but who has been in Chicago in the real estate business for the past few years, has returned to the former city and accepted a position with W. G. Troy, the jeweler, at 322 Jackson St.

Source: The Jewelers' Circular and Horological Review - 30th September 1891

Trev.