English silver, leopard mark missing

1

Hi everybody,

I have got a silver basket (see photo below).

basket
basket1920×1825 278 KB

There are marks underside:
marks1
marks11072×353 116 KB

I am not much of an expert but I think the leopard (London) mark is missing here (or perhaps another city mark).
Does it happen or is it something not right here?
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

G.

2

This hallmark does indeed have the London crowned leopard’s head missing. However this is not a particularly unusual occurrence for this period (the assay date is 1818/19). There does not seem to be a completely logical rule for when this happens although smaller pieces are more likely to have the town mark missing than larger pieces.

The maker’s mark is that of Benjamin Smith II.

Phil

1 Like
3

Hi again,

Thank you, Phil, for the explanation.
I am glad to hear that nothing is wrong.

Thank you again,

G.