posted 01-21-2003 07:45 PM              

The spoons are small and very fine. There is tool work at the top of the handle and raised dots all along the outer edge of the spoon handle.

posted 01-22-2003 01:51 PM              

Is there anyone out there that knows anything about the maker, date made, etc or can suggest anything that I can do to find this info?

I really need some help and would appreciate any suggestions or comments at all.

Best regards,

posted 01-22-2003 03:10 PM            

Let us know, and maybe we can at least give you some ideas.

posted 01-23-2003 12:06 AM              

quote:

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Originally posted by Brent:
Scott's right, it is hard to tell much about these spoons without seeing them. Still, maybe we can infer something from the circumstances. Are they in a case, or just loose? Where and when did you get them, or are they family pieces? How big are they? By "fine" do you mean thin or just well made? Is there any "drop" on the backs of the bowls? Where on the back are the marks located? Do the marks have surrounds, or are they just stamped in?

Let us know, and maybe we can at least give you some ideas.

Brent

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You are both right, a picture would be of great value here. But, alas, not yet.

The spoons came from an antique shop in Lynden, Washington, in a package along with 3 old thread glass bowls. The spoons went with one of the bowls.

When I say fine, I mean very thin and light. You can see forming tool marks faintly on the back of the handles left when the handle was formed into a concave shape. The hallmard is stamped? about 2/3ds up the handle from the spoon itself. The spoons are 4" in length with the handle making up 2 3/4's of that length. The spoon portion is fairly deep for it's size (3/4"w x 1-1/4"L), is egg shaped and comes to a fairly sharp point.

The front of the handle starts off very narrow (3/8") at the base of the spoon and slowly flares out (7/16") for 1-1/2"then narrows again (5/16") about 1/2" up before flairing round (9/16")at the top.

The handle of the spoon is slightly convex on the front and more concave on the back. It is tooled on the front all around the edges with raised dots then curls into what looks like the relief of a lilac flower at the top. It is very simple. The edges are sharp, as though they were never perfectly finished or purposely left so.

The spoon portion is canted upwards from the handle at about a 35 degree angle.

The Hallmark looks like two old swashbuckling swords crossed with a capital "B" sitting in the bottom of the cross. The hilts of the swords are at the top with the blades pointing down.

Does all this info help? I hope so.

posted 01-23-2003 10:22 AM            

One of their marks was a sword horizontally through a B.

Rainwater shows another mark for them which vaguely looks like two (or three) crossed things.

posted 01-23-2003 04:58 PM              

SORRY! I have mislead you. First, the Swords look more like a pair of open scissors (two crossed lines looping outwards and around at the top) with the "B" within the open blades AND there is an "L" in the open handles!

posted 01-24-2003 01:55 PM            

The flames mean that this thread has received a lot of posts, and is therefore a "hot" topic.

I wish I could tell you exactly who made your spoons, but I am simply striking out. From your very detailed description, I think we can safely say that you have a set of silverplate demitasse spoons, likely late 19th or 20th C. The absence of marks other than the one you describe pretty much rules out their being solid silver. As to the origin of the set, the mark sounds like something you might find on European silverplate. The presence of crossed swords or scissors might indicate that the company specialized in cutlery.

I'm afraid that's the best I can do at this point. Unfortunately, there are few, if any, references generally available about European silverplate marks, which is the main problem here, I'm afraid.

I hope this helps somewhat.

posted 01-29-2003 07:02 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by Scott Martin:
Brent,

I was looking in Rainwater for something else when I came upon the mark for Fenniman Co. It doesn't have a "b" and I am not so sure the blades are "two old swashbuckling swords" but maybe this will trigger some additional thoughts.

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