posted 05-30-2003 10:55 AM            

Here is one that has us stumped. Possibly a duty dodger mark, TH or maybe JH or maybe Jk, or... heck you read it. Anyway the middle two are upside down to make it look more like hallmarks. I have seen this trick a few time before. I had no luck finding it in Jackson, and while it certainly looks English it could be American, Canadian or any anglophone country.

Maurice

posted 05-30-2003 08:05 PM            

Maurice, the engraving of the family crest on this ladle is extremely well done, and accurate - it is the classical English heraldic Pelican in her Piety, which also is supposed to have some sort of religious significance. The pelican (which for some reason is always drawn with the head of a bird of prey)is to be depicted with its neck embowed (bent down), its wings raised and addorsed (raised together over the back), and vulning (tearing at its chest); when in her piety she in her nest with young and feeding them on the blood resulting from the vulning. Often such engravings by Americans less familiar with heraldic devices don't quite get it right, so this might be more likely not to be American, although I have seen some nice ones which probably were copied from a family source.

If it were worth the effort, you might be able to determine the origin of the ladle by tracuing the family name. The pelican in this form is not depicted among the 1,875 crests pictured in Fairbairn's Crests of the Families of Great Britain and Ireland, so I conclude it is not a common one. Only an "impious" pelican vulning is depicted - a fair number of families used this device, and it is possible by looking them all up (which could be done in this book) one or more of them might be listed as using the less common "pious" one, and even the county of origin might be given. In England, crests are (or were at the time) part of the coats of arms assigned by the Heralds to individuals, and their use was subject to strict rules there (but not here). So use of this particular crest might be quite specific and you might get lucky.

{and I am NOT an "expert" on heraldry, so if there are any out there reading this, please correct any errors)

posted 05-31-2003 01:50 PM            

Note that, while it may be common for us today to call this a "family crest," the illustration properly represents an entire coat of arms; the pelican figure here is within in the shield, but is not the crest (which is only the figure atop the helm or helmet), which is quite a different depiction here. Therefore, the holder of these arms may not be related to the owner of the spoon with the "pious pelican" crest. What is the source of your figure?