posted 07-24-2006 04:07 PM            

I've gone through the American, British and International books and I am stumped.

Set of 12 sterling bread plates, all marked sterling, 1246 with a hallmark of a dog standing on hind legs with front paws on shield of letter E? L?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

posted 07-25-2006 02:30 PM            

I may be able to help you on the silver mark, but a pic would certainly help. As your mark looks like an animal with front paws on a shield with either an E or L, it may be Ellmore Silver Co., Inc. of Meriden, CT. They used the mark of a lion on its hind legs resting its front paws on a shield with an "E". The company was founded c1935 and went out of business in 1960. <per Rainwater, p. 70-71.> Your posting drew my attention because I have a set of 12 sterling silver bread & butter plates, 6" diameter - suspect yours may be bread & butter rather than bread? Also with your mention of E or L, thought it might be the same manufacturer. Mine are by Elgin Silver Co. whose mark involves a diamond cartouche with "EL-SIL-Co" within it. I checked my sources and found no animal associated with Elgin marks. Anyways, even if these aren't the same I still will share pics of mine.

--- Susan

posted 07-25-2006 10:11 PM            

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It is definitely a dog, not a lion.

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No doubt you are right, but it still resembles the Ellmore mark.

Here is an actually pic of a Ellmore mark. More of the mane of the lion shows, shield with the E looks identical to yours, and the tail and stance of the lion looks identical to yours. Note that yours and this pic both show a curvy line at the upper left hand corner of the shield.

I feel there is a possibility the mane on your animal is mostly worn off leaving a few strings that look like dog ears.

Hopefully someone with more knowledge than I will jump in with more definitive info.

Ooops, my mistake. It is not set in concrete that this is an Ellmore mark. The person says it *may* be an Ellmore silver mark. Sorry.

--- Susan.

posted 07-25-2006 11:39 PM            

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However, the Ellmore mark I have (Rainwater encyclopedia) shows a very distinct lion in the same position on a shield with a block letter E (not in script).

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Yes, I see what you mean about the block letter E in Rainwater, but is that an actual scan of the mark or hand drawn?

I found another site with the Ellmore mark on the big auction site. That auction is still going on sooo can't send you over there. Anyway, they say without any hesitation that it is Ellmore.

I also found the mark over on the "Online Encyclopedia of Silver Marks, Hallmarks & Maker's Marks" website. I'm going to link their pic(s) of the Ellmore mark. I think this is alright to do because it is silver related and nothing for sale. The pic is really 2 pics. The top one has 1 lion on the shield with the E and the bottom pic has 2 lions on each side of the shield with their paws up on it. The top pic looks like a block E but that appears to be hand drawn?? The 2nd pic has the E in the shield in a script like yours.

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Could this be a pre 1950 mark (they started in 1935)?

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I haven't a clue. I'm hoping a more experience silver soul might jump in.

--- Susan