Hi, I would like to ask for some help regarding a spoon i have come across in my inlaws cuttlery. It has the lion passant and date letter t and what looks to be something B makers mark and george III head. It does not have an assay office mark so i cannot date it as i don’t know were it was made. I would appreciate someone explaining why there is not an assay mark and how old it actually is. If anyone knows the maker that would be great also, i am hoping it is one of the Batemans which would suggets London i believe. Any help would be great, thanks for your time.
jonathan
Please click on the link to see the photo:
This is almost certainly a London hallmark for 1794, but not a Bateman mark. The active Bateman partnership in 1794 was Peter and Anne Bateman with a mark of PB over AB. I think this is IB, but there were several IBs active at this time so it is not possible to pin the maker down with any accuracy; John Blake, registered variously as smallworker and spoonmaker is a possibility.
It was very common at this period (1790 to 1820) for town marks to be omitted. London was not the only guilty party; Exeter and Newcastle also commonly did so. I really don’t know why.
Thank you very much