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A more strange request I have not seen in a long time. Well, at least since Granny asked me to free her left nipple from the mangle in 1976....
Anyhow, I have dug up an old silver table fork from our garden, quite deep. The area was farmland before the houses were built, and according to the neighbour, there were outhouses on our land. How old this fork is is intruiging me.
The fork has 4 stamps.
A. The top one comprises the capitals "WP" inside a diamond (well, not quite: more a square on its corners, if you like), and the whole is inside a shield shape.
I think this is the makers mark, and have found there appears to be a maker with those initials hailing from the Edinburgh area.
B. The next is a capital "B" on its side (with the down-stroke horizontal and the curvature upwards) within a square with rounded-off corners.
The font appears to be Serif and again, according to my research so far (if the Edinburgh origin is correct) is a date stamp equating to 1781.
C. The next mark is quite indistinct. It looks a bit like a butterfly on its side, within a rectangle with rounded-off corners.
The Edinburgh mark (if this is the Assay Office Mark) is three castles, and is vaguely similar, but not identical.
D. The last stamp is again a square on its corners, like a diamond but not elongated with what looks like two characters within. To my untrained eye, it could be "R" something, but the first character takes up most of the space, and the other is smaller, and higher, rather like "R²".
Can anybody help? Or am I just a sad geek?
Knowing my luck, it'll turn out to be a common piece made in the 60's lost during a 70's picnic.........
Maybe I need the knowledge of an antiques dealer. Can't find huge amounts on the hallmark system on the net. Perhaps I'm looking in the wrong places.
Anyhow, I have dug up an old silver table fork from our garden, quite deep. The area was farmland before the houses were built, and according to the neighbour, there were outhouses on our land. How old this fork is is intruiging me.
The fork has 4 stamps.
A. The top one comprises the capitals "WP" inside a diamond (well, not quite: more a square on its corners, if you like), and the whole is inside a shield shape.
I think this is the makers mark, and have found there appears to be a maker with those initials hailing from the Edinburgh area.
B. The next is a capital "B" on its side (with the down-stroke horizontal and the curvature upwards) within a square with rounded-off corners.
The font appears to be Serif and again, according to my research so far (if the Edinburgh origin is correct) is a date stamp equating to 1781.
C. The next mark is quite indistinct. It looks a bit like a butterfly on its side, within a rectangle with rounded-off corners.
The Edinburgh mark (if this is the Assay Office Mark) is three castles, and is vaguely similar, but not identical.
D. The last stamp is again a square on its corners, like a diamond but not elongated with what looks like two characters within. To my untrained eye, it could be "R" something, but the first character takes up most of the space, and the other is smaller, and higher, rather like "R²".
Can anybody help? Or am I just a sad geek?
Knowing my luck, it'll turn out to be a common piece made in the 60's lost during a 70's picnic.........
Maybe I need the knowledge of an antiques dealer. Can't find huge amounts on the hallmark system on the net. Perhaps I'm looking in the wrong places.
