posted 10-01-2000 09:35 PM            

Today at a flea market in Rowley, MA, in a wretched pile of common silverplated flatware, I found a 9-1/2" coin silver spoon for only $3.00 (incidentally a lot cheaper than any of the plated junk) marked "J. Sargeant" (the mark is a little worn so it may be Sargent) and "Hartford" both in separate rectangles. Can anyone give me the operating dates of Mr. Sargeant, or any add'l information?

And if anyone wants to recommend books on American coin silver I'd be grateful.

posted 10-02-2000 11:31 AM            

if i see a flea market i always go, no matter how junky it appears from afar...there's always that chance that in a pile of junk there's some treasure waiting. this one was in rowley mass, and this guy had a bunch of tables and one card table had a pile of flatware. most if it was circa 1940s & 1950s silverplate.

actually, he had one other piece of real silver: a fiddle-shaped teaspoon i wanted to get, i believe it was foreign; it had an engraved heraldic eagle at the top; it was marked with a germanic name and a couple of hallmarks-- a capital "A" and another symbol, i think a bird. it had a rattail too. but he wouldn't sell it to me because the price tag had fallen off and he said he was "tending the booth for his silversmith friend, so he didn't know how much to charge." so he took it off the table and set it aside. even though i hate to see sticky tags stuck on silver, sitting in the hot sun all day long, i was pretty disappointed that there was no price on this one because it probably would have been cheap too.

posted 10-02-2000 01:20 PM            

Flynt & Fales, "The Heritage Foundation Collection of Silver." An excellent book on pre-1800 smiths with much original research. The maker's marks shown are not the best quality and the text is becoming dated, but nevertheless a core book that can still be had used for a reasonable price.

Belden, "Marks of American Silversmiths..." A beautifully produced survey of the makers in the Winterthur collection with concise information, excellent photos of the marks, and a good bibliography. The only drawback is its high price -- around $500 a copy now.

Buhler and Hood "American Silver : Gravan Collection et al at Yale University." A fine survey of early makers. Good solid scholarship. Again, very pricey.

Ensko, "American Silversmiths and Their Marks." Available from Dover Books; probably the handiest volume for carrying around the shops. Most of the information in the bio section is taken from Flynt & Fales; the mark section is now rather dated and should be used with some caution - many of the marks (drawn rather than photographed) are misleading and a number of the attributions have been disproven.

Kovel, "A Directory of American Silver..." Dates and attributions should be taken with a large grain of salt. It is a compilation of other books and little regard was given to verifying information. The only real value is the bibliography; it is best used as a starting place alone.

Wyler "The Book of Old Silver." A smallish section on American makers, quite dated, but still containing valuable information.

In addition there are many good books by region or state. At the top of the list would be:

Bohan and Hammerslough, "Early Connecticut Silver"
Boultinghouse, "Silversmiths of Kentucky"
Carlisle, "Vermont..."
and the various state surveys by Cutten (though his scholarship has proved dubious in some cases)

That should help wipe out the buying budget for the year. Flynt & Fales and Ensko would be a good start.

Better stickers in the sun than permanent marking pen!