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Author	Topic: Family or fantasy?
wev Moderator Posts: 4121 Registered: Apr 99	posted 07-25-2022 10:42 PM While I know a little about American silver, I know cold beans about family crests thereupon. This one is on a fiddle thread platter spoon marked by Thomas Charles Fletcher, c 1830. I'm guessing, from the joint shield bits and the type of spoon, this may have been a wedding gift. Any thoughts on which family/families it might represent? IP: Logged
Silverpath Posts: 91 Registered: Jun 2020	posted 07-31-2022 12:55 PM Hopefully a member knowledgeable about heraldry will weigh in. I think there are professional resources to identify these for a fee and the one you have is old and seems promising. I'm not knowledgeable but I've grappled with this problem a few times-it always appears to be a great clue! It seems to help to investigate components. The most intriguing part of the one you have (unless it's fantasy) is the crown at the crest. My French silver sources take those seriously as identifying marked silver as belonging to nobility and an implied indicator of quality silver. Wikipedia has a nice summary under "Crown (heraldry)" and the design of the one topping your crest could be the crown for a French Marquis or Italian Marquess. If it signifies a marriage, the husband's shield is on our left (the right of the wearer of the shield) and the wife's is on the viewer's right. My own occasional successes have almost always been because of a motto included in the coat of arms. Tracked one recently that was originally from Scotland and used by Mary Scott Townsend as a bookplate and probably also on the family silver. A few years ago I bought a set of entree dishes with a coat of arms said to be a marriage crest. Turned out to be presentation silver from the merchants of Jamaica to a British admiral stationed there around 1805. Sometimes the coat of arms unlocks some fun stuff. [This message has been edited by Silverpath (edited 07-31-2022).] IP: Logged
Silverpath Posts: 91 Registered: Jun 2020	posted 07-31-2022 01:12 PM A search images for heraldry for the chevron and three pine cones turns up the Godet family (native of Champagne) and they had some titled members... IP: Logged
ahwt Posts: 2334 Registered: Mar 2003	posted 07-31-2022 09:11 PM I think two shields next to each other represents the marriage of a member of each family. IP: Logged

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