posted 09-20-2008 07:31 PM            

Both parts have just a maker's mark, but a different maker on each. The bowl has the Britannia standard mark of George Cox that he entered in 1698 while the handle is marked WG which cannot be the first two letters of a surname so should be a pre 1697 sterling mark.

And here is a traveling set where the cannon-handled knife and fork also have just a maker's mark on the handles: the same WG.

The dognose spoon, engraved to match the cannon handles, has Britannia standard marks for London 1701 but its maker's mark is missing, perhaps lost in the engraving or struck so faintly that it has worn away.
Just to add to the confusion of marks, the original steel blade and tines in the cannon handles have been replaced with silver ones by Moses Brent, London , 1804.

One can indulge in a range of speculations about how a 17th century sterling period mark gets combined with Britannia period marks, but the coincidence of this happening twice in the case of WG suggests that the maker continued well into the Britannia period to use his old mark, and perhaps indeed to use sterling silver, on items he was not submitting for assay.