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tline3open  Spaulding company (originally: plated spoon)

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Author Topic:   Spaulding company (originally: plated spoon)
middletom

Posts: 467
Registered: May 2004

iconnumber posted 10-07-2015 09:24 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for middletom     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
This is my first entry under this subject, I believe. My wife's nephew, who works in construction, gave me a spoon he dug up on the property of a house being torn down. He said it was about eight feet down. It was quite crushed and mangled, but I was able to largely straighten it out. The marks, once I removed the dirt from them, were a Q, then a cat's face and then a side view of a lion. After those was a similar stamp S&Co. After those stamps, which are the deep ones with the raised image, is another light one (with the letters struck into the metal) stating "Spaulding&Co" then "England" beneath that. Despite the side view of the lion, I know this is not sterling. The metal is very silvery in color, though I had expected brass. It is also heavy for its size. I know the "Spaulding&Co" used to be a store, in Chicago I think, and ONC at one time sold to them.

I can't really detect any silver plate, there seem to be no wear through spots.

Can anyone identify what this was made from and by whom?

Geoff Blake

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Scott Martin
Forum Master

Posts: 11573
Registered: Apr 93

iconnumber posted 10-07-2015 11:40 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Scott Martin     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
camera Photos please. camera

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middletom

Posts: 467
Registered: May 2004

iconnumber posted 10-17-2015 12:42 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for middletom     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Scott, I will try to get photos but my camera is not the best for close-up shots. Even if I can get a good photo, down loading it to my computer may not work for the camera is a Kodak and the download software for that camera is no longer valid. If I have success I'll be sure to post them.

Geoff

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jersey

Posts: 1203
Registered: Feb 2005

iconnumber posted 10-19-2015 06:38 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for jersey     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Hello middletom
Information I have says that the Spaulding company in London makers of flatware 1952-1967. They marked their spoons from 1952-1954 "Spaulding & Co England possibly for export to the US.

Hope this helps.
Have a great day!
Jersey

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agphile

Posts: 798
Registered: Apr 2008

iconnumber posted 10-20-2015 04:23 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for agphile     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Geoff

Are you 100% sure the spoon isn't sterling? Might years of burial have changed the feel of the metal? The marks you describe seem very much like London sterling. You could check the S&Co maker's mark on the excellent Silvermakersmarks.co.uk site to see how it matches.

It would have been illegal for over 100 years for a British maker to put marks like this on a base metal or plated item. To follow on from Jersey's input, the Q might be the date letter for 1951/2 which could tie in with the Spaulding and Co England stamp but you would need to check this against a date letter table.

David

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middletom

Posts: 467
Registered: May 2004

iconnumber posted 10-23-2015 08:27 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for middletom     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thank you Jersey and David for that information. The metal doesn't look like sterling and it is very hard, but the lion stamp would seem to say it is sterling. The cat face I mentioned in the second stamp is actually more of a panther face with small rounded ears.

I will give that site a check and may be I'll find the answer.
Geoff

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middletom

Posts: 467
Registered: May 2004

iconnumber posted 10-23-2015 08:41 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for middletom     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
David,
I just went to the site you referred me to and found it obviously is sterling. The mark, as you mentioned, the cat, is London and the style of the letter Q is for 1951. And the lion is exactly like that on the spoon so we are talking sterling and I have put this thread in the wrong place. Sorry, Scott.

The spoon has a number of deep digs in it, either from the gravel it was buried in or from being hauled from the ground by a back-hoe. I am going to clean it up and then submit a picture of it. Maybe a before and after pair of photos.

Geoff

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agphile

Posts: 798
Registered: Apr 2008

iconnumber posted 10-24-2015 12:23 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for agphile     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I can understand how a silver spoon can appear not to be silver. I was very doubtful about the spoon illustrated below. The metal felt too hard and brittle. The colour seemed wrong. It is c.3½ inches long, marked in the bowl and on the stem and with the initial W incised on the stem end. The marks didn’t convince me it was silver

Then, on a visit to the Assay Office at Goldsmiths Hall I had the chance to see one of their clever x-ray machines used to test it. It proved to be a high grade silver copper alloy (just under 95% silver) with traces of lead, the lead showing that it is of early manufacture.

So I have an interesting little spoon, probably from around 1600, but no idea where it comes from as I have been unable to identify the marks.

I wonder whether my spoon had been buried like yours and whether the pressure of the weight above it or the knocks it may have received without any annealing had some effect on the metal.

Anyhow, before and after shots of your spoon would be fascinating to see

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June Martin
Forum Master

Posts: 1343
Registered: Apr 93

iconnumber posted 10-25-2015 11:56 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for June Martin     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Geoff, before and after photos would be super!

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