My usual test for fallibility is “if it isn’t what is being alleged what else might it be?”
Looking at Phil’s own website I cannot come up with a Plan B or T.
CRWW
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It looks more T ish through my loupe than the photo. Another thought, maybe the T is an I. Possibly it’s the IC with a pellet Phil attributes guardedly to James Crawford while noting that it turns up after he had died. So possibly, Sarah had a stash of spoons which she sent out to be assayed after poor James had kicked off his clogs, and sold some with late hub’s mark before making her own mark and overstamping what was left of his stock.
After all this, I think I need a pint of Newkie Brown.
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The top stroke of the partly visible letter has the downward point at the end of the extension of a “T” (top stroke) or an “L” (bottom stroke.). It cannot be an “L” because it is facing in the wrong direction we are left with “T.” The “I” in the Crawford-attributed mark is plain, no downstroke at the top or bottom of the extension so I think I still prefer “T”.
You might say it suits to a T.
The over stamp does seem to have pushed the old mark out of whack (technical expression silversmiths use) so the “T” is a little nearer the border than it appears in the compendium of silver marks.
Other than that is look exactly like the visible part of a Tommy Watson mark after it has been squashed by a Sarah Crawford.
CRWW
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That’s a beauty! Steal me one too!
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I was astonished that I didn’t get sniped in the last few seconds. My max bid was well north of the hammer price.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/358456831401
Nice to find U.S. sellers, to avoid the illegal, but still collected, tariffs.
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Scrap value $2,118. or $220 less than you paid. Wow.
As you may know the Crest belongs to the Parker Family aka. Earls of Macclesfield
Gules, a chevron between three leopards’ faces affrontee.
Thomas Parker (1666–1732), the first Earl of Macclesfield, was a distinguished English barrister and politician who served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. The family seat is Shirburn Castle in Oxfordshire.
“Sapere Aude” translates to "Dare to be wise"is a quote from the Roman poet Horace Epistularum liber primus
This tankard will likely have belonged to the third Earl.
The ninth Earl was the Head of House at Stowe my first year.
Camilla, the current Queen’s first husband, Parker Bowles was a member of this family.
They are not short a bob or two and might be quite happy to buy it back.
CRWW
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And this didn’t happen at some obscure, poorly-publicized auction in the boondocks. This was in the full glare of eBay. I also know where the seller bought this (Doyle), when (this March), and for how much. With buyer’s premium he shelled out $2432, plus some unknown, but likely exorbitant amount for third-party shipping. After eBay final value fees (including the FVF on the NY sales tax - so kind of eBay to stick sellers with part of that, even though they get nothing for it), the poor guy took a bath on this latest sale. The provenance prior to that points to I. Franks in 1999, but the trail goes cold.
“Dare to be wise” was often used as a motto during the Age of Enlightenment, as a rallying cry against blind acceptance of whatever ecclesiastical nonsense was being flogged.
I had sussed out the Parker/Macclesfield connection - glad to have independent confirmation of my detective work. Things must be tough in the Parker family - I’m pretty sure Queen C was the underbidder. 
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You started out your comments saying this was a buyer’s market. But generally prices have scooted north with the great price bump in raw silver or bullion.
I wonder if your Bateman tankard purchase is actually typical of everybody’s experience in the market place or if you just did rather a good job or tracking and buying?
In this case it wasn’t premiumed and you persevered and got a heck of a deal.
I am not sure Queen Cam-shaft wants to buy her ex’s family’s silver.
When Charlie keels over, King William V will give her the boot just like he did Harry when he married Ms Markle whose ancestors were almost certainly owned by his and shipped over by the Royal African Company, started by James II. another forebear of his.
Shades of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings. The royals were up to their neck in the triangle trade and the last thing they want is someone whose family was a victim of that trade peering at them through the family silver candelabras at dinner.
CRWW
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I actually think at $2432 that he got a good deal too. I can’t believe that a lidded pint tankard by a celebrity maker in that condition would go for less than $4k USD, and it did twice in 3 months! My Newkie Browns need this kind of delivery system upgrade. Great buy Jeff
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I agree - I’m sure this seller saw his successful $1900 bid (before 28% premium), and thought to himself, “Cha-ching!” I did, in fact, think that this piece would hammer at around $4k. I set my max bid at $3100 and change (to “game” the bid increments), and fully expected to get sniped. As I watched the timer count down, followed by “you’ve won,” with only a couple of half-hearted last minute bids, my jaw dropped.
I’ve been in touch with this seller regarding another piece he’s got that’s just not bringing the kind of “buy it now” price he’s trying to get, and he’s the one who first labeled it a “buyer’s market.” I’m still working on him, but he hasn’t surrendered yet.
I think there’s a distinction to be made here. If you’ve been sitting, for many years, on your Aunt Sally’s ho-hum 20th Century sterling tea set with a boring design, and mass-produced by a competent but otherwise uninteresting silversmith, the rise in the spot price of silver probably makes this a good time to unload the stuff. No one cares if it ends up back in the furnace.
But the premium that more distinguished pieces used to bring is a different matter. That premium just isn’t materializing. And for sellers like this, that’s the kiss of death. He’s out there braving the miserable world of traditional auction houses - the handful of crappy photos, the inadequate or misleading descriptions, the barriers to online bidding, the difficulty of payment, the nightmare of arranging shipping, and the unwillingness of the auction houses to stand behind what they’ve palmed off on you. If this seller can’t make great “finds” in that world, then realize a decent profit by bringing them to a better marketplace, he can’t keep doing it.
Some of the traditional auctioneers are truly awful to deal with. I spotted something from a fairly well-known British auction house that got my attention. But then I discovered that they would accept payment only in cash, by wire, or by a credit card issued by a U.K. bank. In the immortal words of Anna Russell, “I’m not making this up, you know!” And to get approved to bid, they were almost demanding that I submit a cheek swab so that they’d have a DNA sample. And shipping? “Well, just come pick it up! And if it takes you more than two days, we’ll start charging you for storage.”
This seller is enduring all of that, with some unavoidable losses tossed into the mix. But if Paul de Lamerie sells for 10% over melt, this guy’s business model falls apart.
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Apropos of nothing in particular, any discussion of the mating rituals of the royals always reminds me of the person who said that it was fortunate that Edward VIII abdicated - the British would otherwise have been lumbered with a “Queen Wally.” 
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BTW, full quart. This is a piece with real presence!
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Ha! I’ll say. That’s pretty much a flagon!
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It threatens to overwhelm my modest collection of pint mugs, christening cups, quaichs, and mustard pots. Clearly, I need to get some more pieces of what I call “chunky sterling.” For balance. Yeah, that’s it…
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I wonder if you have your eye on the Pyne coffee pot at $3,800? It looks perfect. I haven’t done a deep dive on it because I regard both Pyne and Nelme as old school goldsmiths who opposed my lot coming in from France but at the same time grabbing what the newcomers made and selling it in the city.
Coffee pots are rather like entree dishes and toast racks, they are place you stick food to linger and eventually die.
However if you hanker after one this is probably one to get.
.
Here’s something that might be familiar sold for $1,200 last year at auction.
Typicaly Ebay prices are double auction prices so at $3,000 he is well clear of it.
CRWW
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Check your messages here…
If you are attempting to contact me through private messaging, it’s notoriously quirky.
You’re better just to use the company contact info. I work on EST and PST depending on which coast I am on.
Phil has my numbers and email and if we are not breaking any site rules he can give them to you. I use Signal, Wechat , Telegram, Facetime and Whatsapp. Email me and I’ll send you a completely insecure link.
The last two we get to share with the Americans, WeChat with the Chinese, Telegram with the Russians and Signal theoretically with no one except Prince Andrew who uses it when he is eating Pizza in the Watford Gap with his daughters while not visiting any private islands
All of them are accessible by Canada but we are too underfunded to pay anyone to listen and too polite to say if we actually heard anything.
CRWW
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Email sent. I don’t have accounts with any of the “chat” apps.
On the subject of the Canadian persona, I’m reminded of what has been said about Canadian football. People in the U.S. think that there are only three downs in Canadian football. That’s not true. There are actually four downs, but the Canadians always punt on third down, just to be safe. 
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