posted 06-14-2011 04:42 PM            

1. a small (salad?) fork with virtually illegible marks;
2. a set of mother of pearl (I think) handled knives; and
3. two monogrammed forks with marks I think I can read.

1. Mystery fork measures 6 3/8 inches, has two marks on the back, in an oblong, looks a little like a genie's lamp or something. It could possibly be the lobster mark that was the city mark from Etampes in Paris but that's a long shot. My mother did own a lot of old French silverplate. The second mark is a word ending in "AKA". Possible ALPAKA, but that's a pretty wild guess. Nothing I've read about Alpacca ever says it was spelled with a "k". Here are the photos:

2. A set of small, serrated knives with mother-of-pearl handles. The blades say "Cromwell stainless, Sheffield, England". The sheath around the top of the handles say "STERLING". I suspect these are modern, but I can't find Cromwell cutlery associated with Sheffield, only Connecticut.?

3. Two forks with the following markings on the backs: "Simon Bros & Co 9 Pat Oct 1891". It could read "Simons Bros & Co", not sure if there's an "s" on there or not. I have found few flatware patterns associated with Simon Brothers (mostly they did thimbles, as far as I can tell), and none matches.

These are the best images I could get, sorry they aren't better.

Thanks in advance for any assistance in nailing these down.