Help Identifying Hand Chased Silver




I have recently come into possession of a beautiful Hand Chased silver serving dish and spoon. The patina on both suggests that they were a set or at least kept together for a long time but the hallmarks are different. If anyone could help identify either piece I would be extremely grateful!

Also, I do plan to sell them so any dating or approximate valuation would also be appreciated. :slight_smile:

Looks to me like the first mark on the pot is a stylized “L” or “Z” but the rest didn’t get fully set so I can’t make them out. Also looks to me like it says “Make in England” but, again, it is not fully set into the silver so it is hard for me to tell.

The spoon, however, is a lot easier to read with a triangle shape and #1 then “S”, “G”, “S”, “C:”, and I think the last one is another “S”.

The framing of the marks is the same on both pieces so I’m hoping they are from the same era/area but idk… thanks for the help!!!

These are electroplate manufacturers’ marks so your pieces are not silver. The spoon was made by the Sheffield Goods Supply Co who were active in Sheffield 1891-1894. “A1” is a standard mark found on electroplate and simply shows that the manufacturer claims the the plating is best quality.

I think that the mark on the mustard is LCCo. Although the form of this is typical of electroplate marks I am unable to identify the manufacturer.

If either of these pieces were silver they would have correct English hallmarks comprising lion passant mark, town mark (e.g. crown for Sheffield, etc), date letter and, if before 1891, a duty mark.

Phil

Oh, interesting! Thanks for the quick response and detail, Phil! I thought the “Hand Chased” thing meant it is silver but it is good to know it is electroplated. Also, thank you very much for the info on the spoon! That is cooler than I thought.

A search for LC Co leads me to Help with identifying this maker - SMP Silver Salon Forums which has a picture with much better imprinting of the maker’s mark. The discussion over there suggests that their items are pre-1890. There is also a suggestion that the marks are import/export marks…did that happen? Would they have marked the spoon but not the mustard if it were a set?

I see that, in the discussion which you linked to, the mark is identified as LTCo. I can see now that that is correct. I found it listed on my go-to site for electroplate (English electroplate and silver plate: marks and hallmarks of Sheffield makers AA-AZ) but as “unidentified” so we are no closer to solving the mystery. The bit about import marks is to do with the “Made in England” bit. This make sense if the manufacturer wanted to sell his goods abroad but doesn’t mean that it was specially made for export.

It is very likely that the spoon and mustard were not together when sold as the makers are different; small spoons get lost and it’s easy to find others which would do the job.

Hmm…indeed. I was just looking at it and the difference between T’s and C’s is very small. “LT Co” is good to know, though. Still beautiful pieces!

You don’t suppose there’s any chance the mustard is pre-1773? The Sheffield Assay Office’s website says they’ll research on their end…but as I’m typing this it is starting to sink in that they are likely not a set and it is the spoon that is from Sheffield.

Would there be any other way to identify the mustard? The pattern on it seems like it is specific all the way around and the styling of the handle seems somewhat unique.

There is no chance at all that your mustard is as early as you suggest. It is 100% certain that it is electroplated and dates from the late 19th or early 20th century.