Can anyone read these hyroglyphs?

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OLDE CUTLER
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Can anyone read these hyroglyphs?

Post by OLDE CUTLER »

My buddy Sundog picked this up recently and asked me to see what I could find about it. It is single blade, 3" long OAL, blade is non magnetic, handle material is MOP, and the only markings are what is stamped on the blade. I did some looking at English hallmarks and have not found anything to match, although it is somewhat difficult to determine what the markings are. I see a lion, the lower case letter e, what may be the makers initials, W N, but what do the others mean?
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gsmith7158
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Re: Can anyone read these hyroglyphs?

Post by gsmith7158 »

O.C. Those are English hallmarks. I believe the WN indicates the silver smith co of William Nowell. The lion passant indicates the city of Sheffield. The small e I believe is the date stamp. The other symbols are for the assay office that approved the piece and the other should be for the particular smith that fashioned the piece.
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Re: Can anyone read these hyroglyphs?

Post by kootenay joe »

Means the blade is sterling silver or it would not have these hallmarks.
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Re: Can anyone read these hyroglyphs?

Post by OLDE CUTLER »

gsmith7158 wrote: Fri Nov 05, 2021 6:35 pm O.C. Those are English hallmarks. I believe the WN indicates the silver smith co of William Nowell. The lion passant indicates the city of Sheffield. The small e I believe is the date stamp. The other symbols are for the assay office that approved the piece and the other should be for the particular smith that fashioned the piece.
So in this Sheffield chart from Bruce Voyles book, with the type of lower case "e" would the date be 1828? Or am I not reading this correctly?
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Re: Can anyone read these hyroglyphs?

Post by beresman »

I have found this website quite useful for figuring out British hallmarks:

https://silvermakersmarks.co.uk/index.htm
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Re: Can anyone read these hyroglyphs?

Post by gsmith7158 »

I believe that's correct O.C. Can you tell if that 1st mark is the profile of a person? If so then it may be a duty mark indicating that the taxes had been paid to the crown. It should be king George the lV.
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Re: Can anyone read these hyroglyphs?

Post by OLDE CUTLER »

gsmith7158 wrote: Fri Nov 05, 2021 7:27 pm I believe that's correct O.C. Can you tell if that 1st mark is the profile of a person? If so then it may be a duty mark indicating that the taxes had been paid to the crown. It should be king George the lV.
Now that you mention it, it could be a person. That is the mark I found the most confusing, but it could be a person.
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Re: Can anyone read these hyroglyphs?

Post by gsmith7158 »

OLDE CUTLER wrote: Fri Nov 05, 2021 7:49 pm
gsmith7158 wrote: Fri Nov 05, 2021 7:27 pm I believe that's correct O.C. Can you tell if that 1st mark is the profile of a person? If so then it may be a duty mark indicating that the taxes had been paid to the crown. It should be king George the lV.
Now that you mention it, it could be a person. That is the mark I found the most confusing, but it could be a person.
It could be. William and John Nowill were a father-son team in in Sheffield circa 1825-1845
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589913John & William Nowell.jpg
589911William and John Nowell.jpg
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Re: Can anyone read these hyroglyphs?

Post by doglegg »

A very sweet old fruit knife OC. ::nod::
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Re: Can anyone read these hyroglyphs?

Post by Alien883 »

I have a little book somewhere...it tells all these English ...mostly London made Silver fruit knife stamps...year made, manufacturer and location...it is still available used...if I get a better picture...I try to get you some info!
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Re: Can anyone read these hyroglyphs?

Post by jerryd6818 »

As always, click to enlarge.
dlSheffield-A.jpg
london_dated_hallmarks-A.jpg
newcastle-silver-hallmarks-1.jpg
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Re: Can anyone read these hyroglyphs?

Post by kootenay joe »

Great post Jerry. Those 3 'charts' can ID every sterling silver blade made in Britain as to maker and year.
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