Hallmark help.

On an old meat skewer. I have no clue. Best photos for now are these. Looks like possible secondary marks in back of main marks

 

Please show the entire piece

 

Yes ma’am . Simple skewer. I’ve always wanted one, so got myself an Xmas present.

 

not a letter opener?

 

In a pinch.

 

You could open some large envelopes! It’s over 13” long I believe.

 

Pretty rough, but the one mark looks kind of like a maple leaf or a tree....

 

Agreed. That’s really the only one you can make heads or tails of. I think it would take someone that just knows whatever the marks are from memory and can fill in the blanks that way. I’ll be really annoyed if I get it and it turns out to be plated. That’s always a good explanation for mystery marks. Not sure how many plated skewers are out there but it’s probably not zero.

 

Have you received this yet, @J Dagger ? I hope it's not plated.

 

That's a hell of a lot of meat!

You can use it to carve the roast next Christmas...

 

meat skewer and pseudo silver hallmarks although made from a process called Old Sheffield Plate ( OSP) usually have a metal internal strengthener....dates around 1790/1800........ this was a process used prior to electroplating process after 1840 ....as an aside ....and related to OSP above another process called Close Plating was used where metal cutlery and items requiring a silver finish, where the metal item was tinned and a thin silver layer was covered over item and heat burnished until the silver bonded to the item....the end....hope this helps.....seasons greetings to all ..

 

I did and honestly wasn’t swayed one way or the other totally after looking at it. I suppose I’ll have to get it tested. Not something I’d want to put acid on directly and not sure a scraping would be conclusive. I was busy when it came in and just gave it a cursory one or twice over.

 

I would not be at all surprised if that were the case. In your eyes what give it away as such? Just the unidentifiable marks? The bottom edge in my photos where it looks like a slight gap on material? I don’t doubt your assessment but curious about your absoluteness and how you made the determination? Thanks

edited: To make the first sentence more clear. I forgot the word “not”.

 

The external surface will test as sterling silver (925( as this is the nature of the construction of Old Sheffield Plate ( OSP) as it is fused to copper and the darkened edge of your skewer if slightly polished will show copper . my comment re pseudo silver marks should have read "deemed to resemble silver marks".. as was determined by silversmiths of the late 18th century and during a period it was illegal to be placed on OSP items ....these marks appear to be undetermined makers marks.

 

Thanks. Yeh that’s why I wasn’t going to bother with testing acid. They did get pretty creative with pseudo hallmarks!

 

still a nice desirable piece and period