Hi Everyone,
I have an old well used and tarnished tablespoon that I am trying to find some background on. It was assayed in London, in 1840 I think. The maker’s mark has me confused though. The only possibility I can see, is that is was made by William Chawner II, however William died in 1834 and his wife, Mary Chawner registered her own mark in 1835.
Is there an explanation for the gap between making the spoon and having it assayed? Another problem I have with this mark is that most of William’s marks have a full stop between the W and C. The only one I have found without the full stop is one he registered in 1817. One in 1813 and another later than 1817 have the full stop.
I hope someone can help me with this. Thank you.
This is actually the mark of William Chandless. This mark was registered on 23 Nov 1841 but Chandless had registered a similar mark in an oval punch in 1832. It seems probable that he had replaced the earlier mark before registering the new one! The 1840 date letter E would have been in use until 28 May 1841 so potentially only a few months of unregistered use.
Phil,
Thank you so much. I was a little uncomfortable with William Chawner II as the shield wasn’t quite right but I couldn’t see an obvious alternative. Now I can research William Chandless.
One further question I have is whether the assay marks have been pressed together or not? They seem quite uniform to me.
This is my first attempt at interpreting hallmarks and I am most gratefully for your assistance.
Moz
It had been the practice for some time to assemble the hallmark punches together and impress them in one pass; this explains the uniformity. Depending on the item being marked, individual punches were still available.
