posted 03-21-2010 12:19 AM            

Recently at an auction I purchased a Southern coin punch silver ladle with a built in or applied stainer that covers roughly a third or more of the top of the bowl of the ladle.

Can't say I recall ever seeing one of these before. Is this common? Does the applied strainer tend to date it at all?

Makers mark dates it to 1840's to early 1870's, tho I am betting it is pre War Between the States (figure there was a limited market for this sort of thing in the South in the five or six years after the war), unless the strainer might tend to make it appear later.

Thanks for any help.

posted 03-22-2010 10:08 AM            

Without photos people here can only guess what you might have. The result is the information that you receive may or may not be correct since there are so many similar silver markings, smiths, and styles. They can also help you to learn whether the object is even American as opposed to continental. For example, there is another recent thread about a brandy warmer where the owner thought it was American and it turned out to be Cornish instead. A great deal of silver was brought over or imported from Europe and also from Mexico in the 1700s and 1800s especially prior to the big silver deposit discoveries in the West that happened in the third quarter of the 1800s. There was so much that it was this that was often used by American smiths to melt down to make coin silver rather than actual coins.

Also, unfortunately there are many fakes and forgeries of markings and sometimes even entire pieces especially of desireable silver and makers such as old southern silver. Clear, well lit photos will let experts give you their opinions as to whether the markings look right for the piece and the smith.

One of the purposes of this forum is to let everyone learn about silver and photos are needed to allow that to happen. And, sharing what your interesting silver looks like is a kind of repayment to those share their knowledge with you in return.

If you need help in learning how to post photos, please click on how to post photos. If you are still having trouble posting photos, just tell us what you are doing and we can tell you what to do differently.

posted 03-23-2010 12:26 AM            

Spear was in business from apparently 1846 to 71. Just basically trying to figure out if the presence of the applied strainer, which I had never seen before, might help any with dating it any closer. Also how common were those. Like I said never seen one before that I can recall.

I'm guessing 1850's. Not sure how much call there would have been for this in Charleston in the few years after the late unpleasantness that Mr. Spear was still in operation. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part and it might indicate later, or nothing at all definitive date wise.

A quick look thru Burton and Ripley's South Carolina Silversmiths does not seem to show any other examples of the mark. Nor does any other book I have on Southern silver, which cover all the South Eastern states as well as Tennessee, New Orleans, and even Missouri. Which begs the question, it this piece just that odd, or is it just that late?

posted 03-23-2010 08:17 AM            

My feeling is that James E. Spear was a purveyor of jewelry, watches and silver. If James E. Spear & Co was a smith then it was most likely they were a jewelry, watch, engraving smith and were not making their own silver hollowware and pattern flatware. That James E. Spear purchased and retailed silver made by others and I suspect (based on the photos) most of their retailed silver holloware and pattern flatware came from New York area silversmiths.

posted 03-23-2010 10:56 AM            

I would not discount the possibility that Spear sold nice ladles from 1866 until his death in 1871.
I have not seen any ladles of the type you describe and an applied strainer would indeed be a rare form.

posted 03-25-2010 10:57 AM            

On the question of the side to which the strainer is fitted, a comparison with strainer spoons may be relevant. In England these usually have the strainer (fixed or detachable) fitted down the center of the bowl as in this example by Thomas and William Chawner, London 1762, though occasionally the strainer is instead a cover over one side of the bowl.

posted 03-30-2010 09:41 AM            

SSF
British / Irish Silver FAQ:
"What is a Hallmark, and how can it be identified?"

The term "forge" may interrupted many different ways. It can be a noun or a verb.
"one forge" makes it a noun to mean
1. A furnace or hearth where metals are heated or wrought..
2. A workshop where pig iron is transformed into wrought iron.

Spear's "one forge" may have been mostly a furnace which was used simply to melt silver metal objects into bullion bars for shipping and to do simple assay.

I don't believe Spear having only "one draw bench and one forge" was enough to produce all the things that are found with his name attached. Perhaps some of our silversmith members would examine the photos and speculate how the ladle was crafted and what a silversmith's shop might need/look like to manufacture all that is attributed as being made by Spear?

posted 04-01-2010 12:51 PM            

Really I think that the small hand tools were not mentioned or the forge and draw bench were left over from when the shop was making things. The forge perhaps hard to disassemble and the bench really an awkward piece of furniture that might be shoved in a corner.

So it is hard to tell, although I am thinking of a basement London workshop that would look to the casual observer like a rubbish heap, where the draw bench and forge might stand out as the only worth while tools… but the cramped, dark conditions give very little hint of the amazing amount of gold and silver masterpieces that have been made for the last 25 years. OK its not that bad but if you knew nothing you might think they were plumbers!

posted 04-01-2010 01:23 PM            

To my eye the ladle looks like it has a more Die Struck look. So it most likely came from and was made in a larger shop/factory.

To make this apparently die struck patterned ladle, I would expect the shop's equipment/tool inventory would be more extensive.

Not to diminish wonderful small silversmith workshops and the great works that can come from them.... I am sorry but I don't believe this is case with Spear.

I think Spear was a jewelry workshop at best. Wire being drawn, jewelry casting, melting for assay and ingots.

All too often retailer's marks are attributed as maker's marks. And a jewelry smith's shop which sells other silversmith's works are mistaken for being full blown Silversmiths themselves.