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"I Love Liberty"

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Author	Topic: "I Love Liberty"
REB Posts: 12 Registered: Jul 2001	posted 12-02-2001 10:22 PM I came across a pair of spoons the other day that are being presented as being English.The marks were unclear and I'll have to go back and take a better look, but I think there was a two initial mark in a cartouche plus an extra mark of some sort. The style of the spoon is about 1780 and on the back of the bowl is a beautiful relief of a bird cage with an open door and a banner that says "I Love Liberty". Fales makes reference to a "I Love Liberty" banner on page 60 of Early Amer. Silver. My question is whether or not one would find "I Love Liberty" on an English spoon. IP: Logged
wev Moderator Posts: 4121 Registered: Apr 99	posted 12-02-2001 10:55 PM Yes, it's one of the most famous of English picture backs. Ian Pickford's Silver Flatware shows a set of six teaspoons by Thomas Wallis with 1765 London marks. IP: Logged
Brent Posts: 1507 Registered: May 99	posted 12-02-2001 11:11 PM Just to add, although that particular picture was indeed used in England, at least two different American smiths used it as well. Take a very close look at the spoons. English examples are valuable, but Americans are even more so. If the spoons have only a maker's mark, you still need to consider the possibility of mark erasure. Let us know what the marks are when you check them out again. Brent IP: Logged
bascall Posts: 1629 Registered: Nov 99	posted 11-20-2008 09:30 AM Charles N Potter in his book Investing In Silver also cites a George III picture back spoon with the subject I Love Liberty with the maker Thomas Langford overstriking Hester Bateman's mark. London circa 1775. Potter concludes that there is a logical inference that after 1760 pattern books were hired out to all workers who drew their inspiration from them, and thus nearly all the picture back spoons were derived from the same "school of art." He also points out that that the most sinister aspect of picture back spoons was political allusion which is where the I Love Liberty spoon fits, and that spoons has its own peculiar story. IP: Logged
ahwt Posts: 2334 Registered: Mar 2003	posted 11-20-2008 01:14 PM John Wilkes may have been the inspiration for the English spoons bearing the I love Liberty slogan. quote: I Love Liberty Probably the most famous of the picture backs spoons. It depicts a dove departing an open cage with an olive branch in it's beak, surmounted by the words "I LOVE LIBERTY". Almost certainly inspired by the trials of the political activist John Wilkes during the period 1765 - 1771. John Wilkes (1725 - 1798) was imprisoned on "libellous" and "treasonable" charges following his attacks in The North Briton newspaper against King George III and his government. His stance against the establishment's corruption, is considered as the major break through for the freedom of the press in the UK. IP: Logged
argentum1 Posts: 602 Registered: Apr 2004	posted 11-20-2008 01:33 PM The best thing to do is post a photo ( quite easy). There are so many marks that are similar enough that actually seeing the mark is the way to go. IP: Logged
adelapt Posts: 418 Registered: May 2003	posted 11-20-2008 06:31 PM "I Love Liberty" spoons were evidently among older spoon types reproduced in England around 1900, with the (contemporary) correct hallmarking. Have also heard of 18thC teaspoons being "improved" by having the bowls struck into a repro die to copy the original picture back of "I Love Liberty". IP: Logged
bascall Posts: 1629 Registered: Nov 99	posted 11-20-2008 06:46 PM That's interesting. They make a nice decorative item, and with the contemporary marking who could mind them being reproduced. IP: Logged

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