Hello,
I am writing about a sterling silver tablespoon that has come down to me within the family.
What I haven’t been able to find out so far is if the bowl of the spoon and stem and handle were pressed separately or together. The is a lip on the junction of the bowl and stem in the fiddle back design.
I am hoping someone can help me with this. Thank you.
Moz
If it looks like there is a join then they were probably pressed separately. A picture would help.
Phil
Hello again,
I have included a picture of the back of the tablespoon here.
I have been hunting for detailed information about the process of crafting the piece but there are still some steps I am trying to clarify.
Thank you. Moz
Having done some research I now think that the spoon would have been made from a single piece of silver. What I thought was evidence for a join would, I believe have been formed from whole piece. This “join” is called a “drop” and is there to provide extra strength at the point where most stress would be experienced.
Phil
Thank you again Phil. Your help has been invaluable. I am writing an essay about this spoon and now trying to get the steps of its production sorted out.
You identified the piece as being by William Chandless which I would never have been able to do. William Chandless has his own interesting history having been working in New York in the 1830s, coming back to London for a few years, then leaving again for New York in 1844.
Interestingly his mark appears in London again in 1851 but I haven’t gone into that development for this essay.
Anyway thank you so much yet again. Moz
