posted 08-23-2018 11:52 PM            

Because I love the fellowship when people gather for a meal, I adore “tableware” — transferware, flatware, & stemware! In the last few years, I have been trying to develop my sterling into a collection to be passed down to my son.

I worked in the field of publishing for 25 years — newspaper, books & producing an international magazine (Collector Books/American Quilter’s Society).

I normally will not buy silver in anything less than sets of 6, but I’m anxious to receive your feedback on my lastest “find” — an unusual set of 4 sterling Kirk Mayflower spoons.

What attracted me to the spoons was the engraved portrait inside the cartouche for monogramming. I think I can safely identify the image to be a pilgrim, so I am wondering if its someone’s playful salute to the pattern name. Is the engraving a figment of an engraver’s imagination, or a person’s likeness?

Oddly, the date “1682” is engraved on the back of the spoon’s handle. Since this date precedes the pattern’s issue by many decades, I am wondering if the spoon commemorates the 200th anniversary of a significant event in 1682.

One final oddity: the manufacturer’s name (SKS) & “sterling” appear in tiny engraving along the edge of the spoon, instead of imprinted on the reverse side. The use of “sterling” throws a kink into the dating of these spoons, because I would have dated them several decades earlier than the “sterling” mark.

A Baltimore dealer has suggested that these might be a special custom order. Anyone else have any thoughts?

Bit of a learning curve getting pics posted, & making my first post from a cell phone had not helped!

Thanks again for including me. KB Smith

posted 08-24-2018 10:56 AM            

Well done, Thanks for the intro and successfully posting photos.

Sometimes it can take a while for the right person to see your post. Hopefully it won't take long.

"One final oddity: the manufacturer’s name (SKS) & “sterling” appear in tiny engraving along the edge of the spoon, instead of imprinted on the reverse side. The use of “sterling” throws a kink into the dating of these spoons, because I would have dated them several decades earlier than the “sterling” mark."

We could use a better closeup of the marks..... right now all I can see is what might start with SK ...... and might end with a 5.

posted 08-24-2018 12:10 PM            

quote:

---

January–June

• March 11 – Work begins on construction of the Royal Hospital Chelsea for old soldiers in London, England.
  
• April 7 – René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, exploring rivers in America, reaches the mouth of the Mississippi River.
  
• April 9 – At the mouth of the Mississippi River, near modern Venice, Louisiana, Robert de La Salle buries an engraved plate and a cross, claiming the territory as La Louisiane for France.
  
• May 6 – Louis XIV of France moves his court to Versailles.
  
• May 7 – The reign of Peter the Great officially begins in Russia.
  
• May 11 – Moscow Uprising of 1682: A mob takes over the Kremlin and lynches the leading boyars and military commanders.

July–December

• July 19 – Iyasus succeeds his father Yohannes I as Emperor of Ethiopia.
  
• August 12 – Vesuvius begins a period of volcanic activity lasting for 10 days.
  
• August 25 – Following the Bideford witch trial, three women become the last known to be hanged for witchcraft in England, at Exeter.
  
• September 14 – Bishop Gore School is founded in Swansea, Wales.
  
• September – A comet is observed, which later becomes known as Comet Halley, after Edmond Halley successfully predicts that it will return in 1758.
  
• October 12 – Sultan Mehmed IV departs Istanbul for Adrianople.
  
• October 19 – Kara Mustafa departs with the Ottoman army to Adrianople.
  
• October 27 – The city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is founded by William Penn.

Day unknown

• Celia Fiennes, noblewoman and traveler, begins her journeys across Britain, in a venture that will prove to be her life's work. Her aim is to chronicle the towns, cities and great houses of the country. Her travels continue until at least 1712, and will take her to every county in England, though the main body of her journal is not written until the year 1702.
  
• The Richard Wall House, believed to be the longest continuously-inhabited residence in the USA, is built in Pennsylvania.

Births

• February 25 – Giovanni Battista Morgagni, Italian anatomist (d. 1771)
  
• April 16 – John Hadley, English inventor (d. 1744)
  
• May 17 – Bartholomew Roberts, a.k.a. Black Bart, Welsh pirate (d. 1722)
  
• June 17 – King Charles XII of Sweden (d. 1718)
  
• July 10 – Roger Cotes, English mathematician (d. 1716)
  
• August 16 – Louis, duc de Bourgogne, heir to the throne of France (d. 1712)
  
• October 29 – Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, French historian (d. 1761)
  
• date unknown – Margareta Capsia, Finnish artist (d. 1759)

Deaths

• January 1 – Jacob Kettler, German noble (b. 1610)
  
• January 3 – Olaus Verelius, scholar of Old Norse and Scandinavian studies (b. 1618)
  
• February 2 – Jean Le Pautre, French designer and engraver (b. 1618)
  
• February 10 – Sir William Hickman, 2nd Baronet, Member of the House of Commons of England (b. 1629)
  
• February 15
  
• Claude de la Colombière, French Jesuit priest and saint (b. 1641)
  
• Gu Yanwu, Chinese philologist and geographer (b. 1613)
  
• February 18 – Pierre Dupuis, French painter (b. 1610)
  
• February 19 – Frederick of Hesse-Darmstadt, German Catholic cardinal (b. 1616)
  
• February 25
  - Robert Packer, English politician (b. 1614)
  - Alessandro Stradella, Italian composer (b. 1639)
  
• March 13 – Dorothea Augusta of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, German duchess (b. 1602)
  
• March 14 – Jacob Isaakszoon van Ruisdael, Dutch painter (b. c. 1628)
  
• March 24 – Frederick, Duke of Württemberg-Neuenstadt, German duke (b. 1615)
  
• March 31 – John Frescheville, 1st Baron Frescheville, English politician (b. 1607)
  
• April 1 – Franz Egon of Fürstenberg, German politician and Archbishop of Strasbourg (b. 1625)
  
• April 3 – Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Spanish painter (b. 1618)
  
• April 6 – Johann von Hoverbeck, Prussian diplomat (b. 1606)
  
• April 8 – François Perrochel, French cleric (b. 1602)
  
• April 27 – Heo Mok, Korean politician, poet and scholar (b. 1595)
  
• May 7 – Tsar Feodor III of Russia (b. 1661)
  
• May 28 – Henri, Duke of Verneuil, French bishop (b. 1601)
  
• July 12 – Jean Picard, French astronomer (b. 1620)
  
• July 19 – Yohannes I, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. c. 1640)
  
• August 12 – Jean-Louis Raduit de Souches, German Imperial field marshal (b. 1608)
  
• August 24
  - John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale (b. 1616)
  - Marie Charlotte de la Trémoille, French noble (b. 1632)
  
• August 26 – William Wirich, Count of Daun-Falkenstein, German nobleman (b. 1613)
  
• September 8 – Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz, Spanish writer (b. 1606)
  
• September 16 – Yamazaki Ansai, Japanese philosopher (b. 1619)
  
• October 19 – Sir Thomas Browne, English author, physician and philosopher (b. 1605)
  
• October 20 – António das Chagas, Portuguese Franciscan friar and ascetical writer (b. 1631)
  
• November 2 – Francis Browne, 3rd Viscount Montagu in the Peerage of England (b. 1610)
  
• November 4 – Dirck Rembrantsz van Nierop, Dutch astronomer and cartographer (b. 1610)
  
• November 14 – Rijcklof van Goens, Dutch colonial governor (b. 1619)
  
• November 23 – Claude Lorrain, Lorraine-born landscape painter (b. c. 1600)
  
• November 28 – Valentine Greatrakes, Irish faith healer (b. 1628)
  
• November 29 – Prince Rupert of the Rhine, German soldier, Royalist commander in the English Civil War (b. 1619)
  
• December 18
  - Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham, English politician (b. 1621)
  - Guðríður Símonardóttir, Icelandic woman victim of the Turkish abductions (b. 1598)

Day unknown

• Phillip Calvert, Colonial governor of Maryland (b. c. 1626)
  
• Mariam Dadiani, Queen Dowager of Kartli (b. 1599/1609)
  
• The Great 5th Dalai Lama of Tibet (b. 1617)
  

---

posted 08-24-2018 04:38 PM            

The Baltimore dealer said the handle style was Kirk, as opposed to Warner, which the engraving backs up. His guess was 1880s, which calls into question the contradict of the word “sterling,” since according to my reference book wasn’t used by S Kirk & Son until 1932 on flatware without the word “PAT.” I believe that is why dealer used “custom order” as a way of explanation of why they would have all been hand marked & in a way out of the ordinary (made to the order of the sterling standard).

1880s or 1930s makes no difference to me. I just like that they are unique, & lament that I don’t have 2 more. I may add 2 without monogramming to the set just to show how unique the portraits are. Of the additional ones I have seen, I’d say that the space is awkwardly filled, & the style of lettering competes with the design, unlike the Gothic style used on mine.

Moving on, I did find a photo of John Carver, writer/signer of the Mayflower Compact & a future governor, that shows similarities in fashion trends & hairstyles/facial hair to my pilgrims.

Just some fun speculation — and I get to have 4 MAYFLOWER pilgrims at my Thanksgiving dinner this year!