Help!!! Are these genuine Hallmarks, or bogus!!!

Hi All,

Just found this spoon in a box lot of bits and pieces, but can’t make head nor tail of the marks! I think they may just be bogus marks to make the item look like something its not, but thought I might check it out before I dispose of it!
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Thought I might add a photo of the front, may help. I note it has a monogram engraved on top of handle.
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I have just been told on another forum that the spoon is Chinese circa 1830. Makers mark unknown but believed to have worked in Canton.

Apparently the mark on the spoon is illustrated in “Chinese Export Silver 1785 to 1885” (pub. Museum of the China Trade, 1975), and the museum has a 4 1/2 fiddle pattern condiment spoon by the same maker in their collection.

I wonder if its worth anything? Any collectors of Chinese silver out there… :wink:

Well, the marks do look like the kind of sudo English marks that were used in China.

I’m no expert on Chinese silver (i hope one day that we will find one for silver-collector.com) but I do have a copy of the book you mentioned. I can’t find the exact information that you’ve provided. Maybe you could ask the person who advised you for a page number.

I am slightly suspicious of your spoon. The marks and decoration are so shallow that it looks to me like a poor casting. In china, decorative flatware was made differently from flatware in Europe. The ornate end of the piece was usually cast separately and then soldered on. Can you see a faint solder line between the shell and the hallmarks?? If you can, I think we can be relatively sure that the spoon is indeed Chinese.

The bad news is that, authentic or not, the spoon is so tired that I would suggest it is worth just a few pounds.

Regards // Jonathan

Hi Jonathan,

Many thanks for your reply, I shall see if I can get you a page number.

Can’t seem to see a solder line, but then I am no expert!

Not to worried about value to be honest, its more curiosity value to me, and it has also been quite fun finding out about it. Being in NZ most of the silver I deal with is post 1880/90 British (and mainly London/Birmingham!) so it was fun to find something out of the ordinary.

A great website you have, and have really enjoyed perusing, so will be joining my favourite sites.

Cheers

Matt