Hi everyone. I found this spoon in Mum’s cutlery drawer on Sunday. She doesn’t remember it. Everything else in there was 1950s onwards! I’d love your views on the marks, please. My research is leaning towards 1895 (All port, PGS) and 1818. But which is it? I’d love to know more about the date, maker etc. Help! Some images are pre-cleaning. Thank you.
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“PGS (Plated German Silver) is a generic mark used by various makers. A source assigns to Silber & Fleming the mark “crown, fleur de lys, PGS”. Another source assigns to Silber & Fleming Ltd the mark “A M G into two shields and a circle”.
“The business of E. Allport was noted as located at Cannon Street, Birmingham in 1812.
Edward Allport, likely to be the same person, is noted as a Coach Harness Plater of Great Charles Street, Birmingham in Wrightson’s New Triennial Directory of Birmingham in 1818.”
C - 1851, Birmingham (I’m not sure…).
This is really helpful. Thanks so much. I wonder if anyone else can comment on the likely date? With Allport being active around 1812, could the spoon’s C mark be easy early as 1811? Interesting stuff.
U welcome! This shape of “C” is still a mystery for me… (Sheffield, 1826?).
I’ve done some more research - can this be true about the letter C on this spoon??
A fine example of a Victorian electroplated mustard spoon, made by Edward Allport (or Allport & Sons) of Birmingham around 1880–1900.
This spoon is stamped “Allport” and “P.G.S.”, which stands for Plated German Silver — a high-quality nickel silver alloy used before the widespread adoption of the EPNS mark. The pseudo-hallmarks, including the letter C, were decorative and intended to imitate full sterling marks, a common feature of late 19th-century silver plate.
Good day. The only thing I can contribute further is that a mustard spoon is often confused with a salt spoon, shape-wise. The bowl of a mustard spoon is elongated to form a scoop, whereas the bowl of a salt spoon is round and deep. So that item is, to my mind, a salt spoon.
Regards
Jan
