posted 04-22-2003 11:55 AM            

Hello all,

Here is a pair of unusual old plated spoons. They measure 5 3/8" long. The handle fronts are chased with a crude floral design, and the spoons are marked [E][G][fleur-de-lis/plume][crown]. The spoons also have large raised arch droips on the back of the bowls.

The mark certainly looks English to me, but I have been unable to identify it. The base metal appears to be german silver, which would tend to imply a mid 19th C date. The crudeness of the spoons makes them seem older, though. Perhaps they were made by a small-time provincial English plater? Any ideas?

posted 04-25-2003 11:39 PM            

The only possibilities I found for "EG" electro-platers were Elizabeth Gallimore, active 1860-1872, and Edward Gem & Co., active 1894-1900, both in Sheffield. No documentation of their marks or any other details. I can't imagine why a Sheffield (or Birmingham, etc.) manufacturer would be producing hand-chased electro-plated spoons in any quantity. If the blanks were made by a "Sheffield" manufacturer, I'd guess that the chasing and plating was done after-market, and as you say, not necessarily in Sheffield.

The basic pattern (Hanoverian, without rat tail, single drop) could have been cranked out by any manufacturer -- although Pickford indicates that this 1700s pattern wasn't revived until the late nineteenth century. And, of course, there is no English equivalent to our silverplate flatware pattern books indicating who introduced what and when -- or a Rainwater equivalent indicating who did or didn't manufacture blanks for the trade.