posted 08-06-2017 05:14 PM            

From left to right are four forks marked; a. PLK (for Peter L. Krider of Philadelphia) and J. Stevenson and Son; b. Animal head over shield with star and J.P. Butler of Philadelphia; c. animal head over chevron (mark of James Watts of Philadelphia) and F. J. Posey of Hagerstown Maryland and Shepherdstown Virginia; and finally PLK (Peter Krider) and Clark and Biddle. These are all the engraved type often with engine turning and must have been very popular in the 1850s and 60s in Philadelphia. One website has pictures of other patterns of that have even been given names.

Following are the marks for Krider and Stevenson and Son:

Peter Krider was a large firm in Philadelphia that supplied many retailers. I could not find anything on Stevenson and Son.

The mark for J.P. Butler:

The animal head over shield with star has sometimes been identified as another mark for James Watts, but I think today it is recognized as a mark for J.P. Butler. Butler and Watts worked together for a time and that may have caused the confusion.

posted 08-06-2017 05:15 PM            

James Watts and F.J. Posey:

Posey is listed as working in Hagerstown Maryland and Shepherdstown, Virginia, (now West Virginia), but from my reference books it is not really clear how long he was in Shepherdstown.

And the marks for Peter Krider and Clark and Biddle:

Clark and Biddle are often referenced as being from Philadelphia, but none of my reference books list a Clark and Biddle. Does anyone have information on this company?

Was this style as popular in other cities as it appears to have been in Philadelphia?

posted 08-07-2017 12:49 PM            

Today I think these are called grapefruit spoons, but they may have had another day when they were first made. This one is just marked coin on the back so the maker is unknown to me. These engraved and sometimes engine turned flatware articles came in a variety of spoons and serving pieces but I have never seen a dinner knife.

Does anyone know when the first American pattern was manufactured with a dinner knife? Tea knives came fairly early. I think dinner knives for old patterns were available from England, but it does seem we were fairly late in adding dinner knives to our table settings.

posted 08-11-2017 08:16 PM            

The engraver who did these was very experienced and fast. There are, as far as I know, no engravers now doing this kind of work to this degree. There are a few who do incredible lettering and gun engraving but not this style and difficulty of bright cut.

In the trade in the day they would have been well paid but it was still, with all the other hand workers, only a good living I imagine. A big firm would have employed many engravers.

Lastly, the term engine turning, while it was used at this time was not used on flatware... (being funny here), while it is called flatware, it is not flat enough to engine turn!