Posts: 2420
Registered: Mar 2003

posted 09-12-2025 05:44 PM            

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Patricia Kane in her book on Colonial Massachusetts's Silversmiths notes that a spurious mark for John Coney has been used to imitate his work. This silver lemon strainer has a mark that is similar to the one used by John Coney ((1655-1722) of Boston and may be the one Ms. Kane referred to as the spurious one. The mark on this strainer is suspect as the arc ends on the handles of lemon strainers did not appear until well after John Coney died. See Michael Adams book on Silver Lemon Strainers 1686-1846 for a clear explanation of design changes for lemon strainers through the years. Arc ends did not appear in England until after 1730 and I suspect they were even later in the colonies. The mark is also suspect as this strainer is only average at best and Coney was known for his fine craftsmanship. Finally Kane provides a detailed list of all the known works by Coney and not one strainer is shown.
The last picture shows the suspect Coney mark and also shows several ghost like impressions of what may be the letter A. I really do not know what these represent.

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Posts: 1378
Registered: Apr 93

posted 09-13-2025 12:52 PM            

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Fascinating information and post. Goes to the need to look at things through a skeptical and discerning eye.

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Posts: 2420
Registered: Mar 2003

posted 10-29-2025 07:26 AM            

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I think the story is still to be told on this little lemon strainer. My feeling that the mark might be an example of a spurious one was based on the design on the handles. But if the handles currently on the strainer were not the original ones that reason for doubting the authenticity is gone. The new owner of this strainer believes that there is clear evidence that the handles have been replaced so the question now is there any other reason to doubt the genuineness.

The other reason for doubt is the comment by Patricia Kane in her book that this is one of Coney’s marks that has been shown in the past to be spurious. She does not show examples in her book of the fake marks so I suspect the new owner may be calling on her for assistance in this last step. The answer is important as if the body of the strainer did come from Coney’s shop it could be the earliest known lemon strainer in the Colonies.

Luckily the strainer is now in the hands of a real expert and if I hear more I will post it.

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