Featured THREE STERLING TABLESPOONS....TWO FROM GRANDMOTHER....

The serrated rectangle was definitely used a “reasonable“ (not super common but I wouldn’t say rather uncommon either) amount in the last quarter of the 18th c. Im pretty sure I’ve seen examples from near/colonial era but can’t recall by who. More in the early 19th c. I would say that 7 times out of 10 when you see it it’s going to be pre early 1830‘s. Thats my relatively limited experience at least. I never said anything was a rule by any means but when you see it it’s a good sign you’re dealing with “early” coin silver. I would classify early as being 30’s or earlier but I’m sure others may have different definitions of early.

How often do you see pseudo hallmarks on spoons made outside NY? Almost every time I see them it turns out the spoon was made in NY.

 

You looked at the wrong Cox mark on that page. The one that matches her spoon gives dates of 1817-1831 and 1833-1852.

 

True!

 

If you're defining "early" as into the 1830s, then you will find a large number of serrated cartouche marks, but it would be atypical for even late Colonial era marks, though late 18th century would certainly seem likely since the serrated marks are generally considered 19th century and their coming into use a bit prior to that would be reasonable - but they were continued in use well into the mid 19th century. Personally, the majority of spoons I've seen with serrated cartouche marks have been on fiddles, which would be rare to find in American coin prior to the 19th century, and probably most have been of the same period as the ones on this thread.

Regarding the pseudo-marked pieces, the majority were attributed to New York makers, but were used elsewhere, Philadelphia coming first to mind, and they were also sold to firms outside of the area made - the pseudo-marks were sometimes found with the actual maker's name too.

~Cheryl