Need identification help!

[R44]

Any help or suggestions about these tongs would be so helpful. I've been researching them for over a month yet can't find any information on them. They are 12 1/4" from tip to tip. The only marking I can find is "Sterling" on the inside of both sides. I thought Hound by Gorham at first look, although after much research I couldn't even find if Gorham had made tongs in the Hound pattern. Any help would be greatly appreciated, Thank you.

[dognose]

Hi,

Welcome to the Forum.

Please try again with the images, but remember to use the 'Preview' button before submitting your post.

Trev.

[R44]

Thank you for the information.. I'll try to get the pictures right and repost them.

[R44]

I'm very new to this so I hope I've gotten the images right this time. Here are two pictures of the tongs that I am seeking help with.

[dragonflywink]

Hi - please show a full view of the flat side of the arms so we can see the pattern. From what I can see, the pooch appears to be sitting - can't recall seeing that on Gorham's 'Hound'...

~Cheryl

[R44]

Thank you for the reply, here is a side view. Gorham,Hound was the only pattern I could come up with that had the same hound applique even though the position is different. These tongs have really stumped me.

[Traintime]

Is the apparent "O" a mark, or just a contact point. To reference the other design element, I'm just going to toss out the words Archer and Bowman.

[R44]

Hi Traintime, The "O" you are referring to is the point at which the dog applique was placed on the reverse side. I will definitely research the other information you provided. Thank you for the suggestion, at this point I will take any help I can get with this piece.

[R44]

Researched the names suggested by Traintime to no avail. Thank you for any further ideas or suggestions as I will research any possible leads.

[dragonflywink]

Right off hand, no silversmiths, retailers or patterns named 'Archer' or 'Bowman' come to mind, so am going to guess that those suggestions were made as possible descriptive terms concerning the bow & arrow motif on the discs at the top. The pattern doesn't look familiar to me, and don't have all my references handy at the moment, but did look through several pattern books without luck. Something might appear in books on American silver, and I can look through some of mine when time allows, but there is a good possibility that this was not part of any particular pattern, so the best chance of attributing to a maker would be to just keep looking for the same elements on a marked piece...

~Cheryl

[legrandmogol]

I am just throwing out a guess here but I think its the work of Philadelphia maker George Sharp. He made many silver items with lots of different animals on them such as Swans, bulls, bucks, bugs, turkey's, etc. I have never seen a work of his with a hound before but it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Can you find a tiny G.S. mark somewhere? he didn't always sign his work so it does not matter if it isn't. Also that type of engraving is typical of not just his style but of Philadelphia from that period. Just a guess though.

[R44]

Dragonflywink, Thank you so much for your imput. I was able to find silversmiths by both names Archer & Bowman but with very limited patterns for me to compare to. Nothing I found for them matched the type of design style I have so I'm going to assume they are not made by either. Thank you for your research, any and all helps.
Legrandmogol,I too considered the possibility that they may very well be George Sharp. As you mentioned..Many of his pieces share that design style and are not signed. I have a ladle from 1865 that is by George Sharp. With no mark other than the sterling stamp,I had a long difficult time with that one as well.It does seem that my G.S. late pieces are the ones that have needed more research. I was thankful for your suggestion as it gave me more of an idea that this may be one of his "late" pieces. I'll keep trudging on in hope that someone has seen this piece before, or something similar I can compare them to.

[Traintime]

I think Cheryl is right about finding a matching piece that is marked as your best route. However, note the Sterling stamp itself is very distinctive, especially the T and L. Finding a marked match would be a long route. What bothers me is that someone went to a lot of trouble to design that side element. A well executed dog may just be a dog, but why the three arrows and bow? Assuming there might be something more than just appeal...there could be two C's within the bow...a bow can also be a B for a name or to say "Brothers"....three arrows can refer to three members of a firm, but also part of a word/name like Arrowsmith (combined with the B you get Barrow, but let's not assume it is that known firm). All that hidden symbolism aside, why hasn't that design element been seen before on another item?

[legrandmogol]

Well, if you want to match the word STERLING to other makers than again I would suggest George Sharp as his later pieces use this exact font and style. I don't know if we can mention other websites but if you were to go to an awesome website that deals in STERLING FLATWARE FASHIONS, cough cough .com and check their marks for George Sharp you can the STERLING mark matches perfectly.

[Traintime]

Yes, even the S. & G. here are close to those in his maker mark.

[Traintime]

Another thread for Sterling mark relating it to Sharp to item, even the E looks right: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=42602&p=120512&hilit=george+sharp#p120512

Trev. added another item to Tiffany advertisements. Sharp is credited ( in some way), but is Sterling from his stamp or one controlled by Tiffany?

[R44]

Thank you all so much for the suggestions! You've all put out some great points. This really leads me to believe that this is a George Sharp piece.