posted 04-30-2016 12:32 PM            

Above are two iced tea straws; at least that are what I think they are for. The Gorham straw has the letters H and M with their mark. One may be a date mark and the other may be the weight mark as the letter H can stand for 1875 or heavy weight while the letter M can stand for 1880 or medium weight. The design of these spoons would seem to me to be after either date. There also is a mark on the right end that look a little like an hourglass. That is the date letter for 1901 and may be the real date that they were made. Does anyone have an idea what all these letters mean.

The USMAL TAXCO sterling straw is from Mexico and I think dates from the mid 1900s. This company made several straws of this design with various things placed at the end for stirring. This one has a simple spade, but others have leaves or abstract designs and they are all attractive. It seems unusual to have a mark on a separate plate that is then attach to the straw. I know nothing about this company and wonder how long they were in business.

posted 05-01-2016 10:22 AM            

Thank you, Scott, if you had to fix my image - for some reason, every once in a while my posts don't show up for some time, even with refreshing, so I couldn't check to see if I'd gone astray in my early morning bleary-eyed attempt...

~Cheryl