Can anyone help me

I have some sugar tongs here, it says Cunard on the front standard but I cannot find anything to identify the marks inside. Any help greatly appreciated.


These are electroplate marks of the Birmingham company, Elkington & Co. “A” shows that the plating is second best quality (below A1). The next 3 marks read E & Co in gothic / old english lettering. Then letter “N” which I’ll come back to. And, in the shield, E&Co again.

Electroplate is normally undateable but a few companies, including Elkington, used a private date coding system. The letter N is their date code for 1899.

Phil

Thank you so much! What a wealth of information you have. So I won’t be retiring on them. I have a few pieces I can’t date I will add on. (I’m clearing a relatives house and before I let things go to the charity shop I wanted to make sure I’m not giving away family heirlooms! Thanks again. Joanne