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tline3open  Maker's mark ID?

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Author Topic:   Maker's mark ID?
wev
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iconnumber posted 03-29-2000 11:31 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for wev     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Who used the mark WWW (stacked two above one) in a shield cartouche? I have seen the mark before, but can not place the maker.

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Scott Martin
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iconnumber posted 03-29-2000 01:00 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Scott Martin     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
This does sound familar.
What is the mark on?

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wev
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iconnumber posted 03-29-2000 03:31 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for wev     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Sorry -- its on a fiddleback serving spoon. There is an additional mark - a cap C incuse.

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TGS

Posts: 31
Registered: Sep 99

iconnumber posted 03-30-2000 12:47 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for TGS     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I have a fancy twist handled spoon with that mark on it along with "COIN". Coincidently there is an eBay auction on right now, 294006504, consisting of four mid '80s spoon with that mark and "COIN". The are also marked C.D.Peacock which was very exciting until I found out that Peacock was among the first retailers to sell flatwear with their name on it (presumably made by others?) according to Rainwater. So back to square one. TGS

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Scott Martin
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iconnumber posted 03-30-2000 02:04 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Scott Martin     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote

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Brent

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iconnumber posted 03-30-2000 10:37 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Brent     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I have this narrowed down to two possibilities. One likely culprit for this mark is William W. Wilson of Pittsburgh, PA. He was active as a silversmith/jeweler from 1835-1854. I have a mustard scoop by him marked W.W. Wilson, but no shield mark. Still, the initials fit, as does the time period. As far as I can tell, this is NOT the William Wilson of R & W Wilson of Philadelphia.

On the other hand, I have this same shield mark on a home-altered cheese scoop marked Chas. Wendell & Sons, like Peacock a Chicago retailer/jeweler/silversmith(?). There is a good possibility that the three W mark is Wendell's own, if Wendell really was a manufacturer. The presence of the mark on two pieces with Chicago retail marks makes this seem likely.

Contrary to popular belief, there were tradesmen in Chicago, St. Louis and other midwestern cities with the machinery to manufacture flatware as early as the 1850's. Charles Wendell probably was one of these entrepreneurs, and this could well be an old mark of his company.

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wev
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iconnumber posted 03-31-2000 11:02 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for wev     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The Wilson attribution had been pointed out to me privately as well. I had not heard the Wendell before and did not know he manufactured on his own prior to the company's founding in 1850.

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Brent

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iconnumber posted 04-06-2000 10:09 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Brent     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The Wendell attribution is just a guess of mine, based on circumstantial eveidence (i.e. the Chicago connection and the initial W). Darling's "Chicago Metalsmiths" does not explicitly state that Wendell was a manufacturer in the 1850's, only that he arrived in Chicago about that time and that many of the early Chicago jewellers were equipped to produce simple pattern spoons. I think these fiddle spoons do date to the 1850's, possibly the 1840's but no earlier.

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bascall

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Registered: Nov 99

iconnumber posted 03-31-2011 11:40 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for bascall     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
It's just my opinion but I'd say Charles Wendell was not in Chicago until the early 1860's. The census's show that Charles Wendell was residing in Lockport, New York with the occupation goldsmith in 1860 and that he had children who were born in New York from 1855 to 1861.

There is a Charles Wendell age 47 jeweler that is listed in the U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules as having died in the year ending May 31, 1880 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois (this census year began June 1, 1879).

Looks like I've pretty much been over this ground in another post. You can delete this one if you like Scott.

[This message has been edited by bascall (edited 03-31-2011).]

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