Need help with some silver stamps.

[knife7knut]

Dont have a book on fruit knives so l thought l would enlist the aid of the members. The post on the 1807 knife prompted this as one of mine has a simiar stamp. Posting just the stamps but will post pics of knives if needed.

[deo-pa]

1st photo left to right: crown = assayed at the Sheffield Assay Office, Lion Passant = sterling silver, that design of the lowercase h is the 1900 date stamp, AS in oval = Maker's Mark - for Arthur Staniforth whose cutlery was on Holly Street and was around from about 1890 - 1925.

Dennis

I'll try to research the others as time allows

[beresman]

This website has been useful to me in. helping to understand the UK silver hallmarks:

https://silvermakersmarks.co.uk/index.htm

[deo-pa]

2nd photo left to right: Queen Victoria Duty Mark (young queen version) indicating the silver tax has been paid, Crown = assayed at the Sheffield Assay Office, Lion Passant = sterling silver, that design of the uppercase H is the 1851 date stamp, last hallmark is Maker's Mark - I'm stumped, as it is badly worn. Look to me like it might be "I & U B" but that mark is not listed in the Sheffield makers.

Dennis

[knife7knut]

Thank you Dennis for the replies! The 1851 date sounds about right as the mark side cover is carved & decorated with pique work that l understand was popular for about ten years(1850 to 1860). Here is a closeup of the stamp. Looks like an I with a character followed by the U. Also a pic of the knife.
Also a very strange hallmark with a rooster, T & W, and an arm and hammer. American maybe?

[deo-pa]

Also a very strange hallmark with a rooster, T & W, and an arm and hammer. American maybe?

You are exactly right k7k, that is the mark of Taft and Whiting of North Attleborough, MA., 35 miles south of where I live in Boston. They were founded by Albert Tift and William Whiting and were around from about 1840-1853. (And later under various permutations of the Whiting name.) They made items out of coin silver, which is 90% silver and 10% other (usually copper). The rooster+T&W+arm are not hallmarks in the English sense, but rather company trademarks. T&W was a big deal in Massachusetts in the mid-19th century century with a reputation for high-quality products, mainly flatware.

[knife7knut]

Also a very strange hallmark with a rooster, T & W, and an arm and hammer. American maybe?

You are exactly right k7k, that is the mark of Taft and Whiting of North Attleborough, MA., 35 miles south of where I live in Boston. They were founded by Albert Tift and William Whiting and were around from about 1840-1853. (And later under various permutations of the Whiting name.) They made items out of coin silver, which is 90% silver and 10% other (usually copper). The rooster+T&W+arm are not hallmarks in the English sense, but rather company trademarks. T&W was a big deal in Massachusetts in the mid-19th century century with a reputation for high-quality products, mainly flatware.

Many thanks Dennis for the info from an expatriate New Englander. Grew up in the town of Saugus; home of the 1st iron works in America, and worked for many years in Salem. That knife is inscribed G.W. to M.E.W. I used to jokingly say that it might be a gift from George Washington to his wife Martha!

[deo-pa]

... an expatriate New Englander. Grew up in the town of Saugus...

Hey expat! Why did the chicken cross the road in Saugus? No one knows because no chicken has ever made it across Route 1.

Dennis

[deo-pa]

Thank you Dennis for the replies! The 1851 date sounds about right as the mark side cover is carved & decorated with pique work that l understand was popular for about ten years(1850 to 1860).

For those who don't know, pique work refers to designs created by inserting tiny pins (usually gold or silver) into materials (usually tortoiseshell). The French perfected the art form. The bowl below is French gold on tortoise and is circa 1740.

I'd like to see a picture or two of the pique work on your 1851 knife.

Dennis

[knife7knut]

Dennis: that bowl is MAGNIFICENT!!! Cannot imagine the hours(days, weeks, months)it took to complete that!
In addition to the pics you requested, l've enclorsed some of a G & J Allen Superior Cutlery wharncliffe with an unusual tapered backspring(to accomodate the different thickness blades) and piquing. Not sure of the age but it is OLD!
Also a tortoise handled straight razor by J.Bingham; not the hardware retailer. May have to use 2 posts.
As an aside; a photographer famous for colorizing prints(Wallace Nutting) was the person primarily responsible in the early 1900's for the restoration of the Saugus lron Works. I have 3 of his prints dated 1911.

[knife7knut]

The razor and another with mother of pearl and silver wire inlays..

[deo-pa]

Here is my take on the 3rd photo, left to right:

Crown = assayed at the Sheffield Assay Office.

The uppercase X is the date stamp. To my untrained eye, several of the X date stamps look the same, but I a going to say it is 1865 (with 1842 being a possibility).

Lion Passant = sterling silver

Queen Victoria Duty Mark indicating the silver tax has been paid

The JN Maker's Mark is for John Nowill, whose cutlery was on Scotland St. from 1827-1874 (and later as John Nowill and Sons all the way to 1930).

Dennis

[deo-pa]

4th Photo:

By now everyone knows what the Crown and Lion Passant signify, so we'll skip those.

That stylized S is the date mark for 1910.

GGR = George Guirnam Rhoden, founder of the firm Sutherland & Rhoden (see below). The original cutlery was on Carver St. in Sheffield.

Dennis

[deo-pa]

Finally wrapping up my input; I've enjoyed this post knife7knut.

5th and 7th photos have me stumped, so no comments.

6th photo: For the Queen Victoria, Crown, and Lion Passant hallmarks see earlier comments above.

During Victoria's reign the uppercase Z was used as the Date Mark in 1843 and 1867. To my eye this looks to be a little closer to the 1843 version, so that's my guess.

The I.O. Maker's Mark is for John Oxley. Huh? Why would his mark be IO instead of JO? I see no evidence that another maker used the JO mark during this period, so I have no idea. I guess that is research for another day.

Dennis

[knife7knut]

Finally wrapping up my input; I've enjoyed this post knife7knut.

5th and 7th photos have me stumped, so no comments.

6th photo: For the Queen Victoria, Crown, and Lion Passant hallmarks see earlier comments above.

During Victoria's reign the uppercase Z was used as the Date Mark in 1843 and 1867. To my eye this looks to be a little closer to the 1843 version, so that's my guess.

The I.O. Maker's Mark is for John Oxley. Huh? Why would his mark be IO instead of JO? I see no evidence that another maker used the JO mark during this period, so I have no idea. I guess that is research for another day.

Dennis

Dennis: Thank you so much for your knowledge and taking the time to research this for me; it is greatly appreciated!
As to the use of the IO for John Oxley; in early alphabets, a capital l was used in place of a capital J because the j was not in the alphabet. It was adopted before the knife was made but apparently the English were slow to adopt it.
Letter forms have changed dramatically over time. One example is the letter S. Even as late as the 19th century, an s at the end of a word would look the same, but if it was before the last letter, it looked like a lower case l.

[deo-pa]

As to the use of the IO for John Oxley; in early alphabets, a capital l was used in place of a capital J because the j was not in the alphabet. It was adopted before the knife was made but apparently the English were slow to adopt it.

Interesting, but I'm not sure I buy the argument, as there were plenty of "J" maker's marks in the early 19th century and later. The photo below shows just a few for the JM letter pair that were registered at the Sheffield Assay Office. However, I seen no JO mark registered for Sheffield until the 20th century

The London Assay Office had a number of JO hallmarks in the 19th century. Occasionally, non-Sheffield makers would send their items to Sheffield for assay so they would display the Crown hallmark (instead of the Leopard's Head used by the London Assay Office). This was not done frequently because sending and returning the items added to the cost. However, Sheffield was considered the premier manufacturing site and a buyer seeing the Crown mark on a knife might assume it was Sheffield made (not just assayed there) and thus a better item and worth a bit more. That's just my conjecture.

Dennis