B COLEMAN your thoughts

What does the 1723 mean? Why does the stem appear sheet wrapped?
5-3/8" long. 8.87 grams. The joining to the bowl is almost invisible.

 

The combination of markings makes no sense. Benjamin Coleman was working in the late 1700's and early 1800's in New Jersey and New York - he's the only B Coleman in the references I checked and the documented marks for him match what I see on your spoon. Why the spoon would be engraved with a 1723 date is a puzzle.

I suspect some kind of fakery, but not sure what or how.

 

On second look, it appears to be S COLEMAN. And you can see the line running through it like the edge of a sheet.

 

Hmmmm. There is also an S. Coleman (a relation to Benjamin ? but no full name given) - again early 1800's. I agree that a second look makes it look cobbled together.

 

It's Samuel Coleman and the coffin-end would be appropriate to his working dates: http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~silversmiths/genealogy/makers/silversmiths/64479.htm

~Cheryl

 

No idea why that date would have been engraved, or why the 'fold' on the stem would be present. Not sure what you mean by the 'joining to the bowl' - was it damaged and the bowl soldered back on? Perhaps someone did some faulty repair on the handle?

~Cheryl

 

Thanks, Cheryl. I had "lost" the bookmark to that site, but I've got it back now!

 

That might have been someone's birth date rather than the date the spoon was given.

 

The engraving was done by 2 different people,the date is good and the initials look like they were done with a screw driver.

 

Possibly were! When it comes to old silver or old jewelry, nothing surprises me.

 

"The third spoon has the “coffin-lid” handle, thought to have been given to relatives and friends of the deceased instead of the usual mourning ring", so maybe birth year of the deceased.

 

It was unavailable for a year or so, good to see it back up...

That comes from a 1941 article, and the key phrase there is "thought to", coffin-end spoons were also thought to be designed in honor of George Washington's death in late 1799, since the general dating of this shape is the early 19th century - but American examples from earlier in the 1790s exist, and the same form exists in English and other European examples dating to the early 19th century (it was really only in fashion for a couple of decades). While there are funeral spoons, originally given to the pall-bearers, from the same era as this piece, as well as much, much earlier (a tradition particularly among the New York Dutch families), they would be engraved with the deceased's name and date of death rather than birth.

Here are some examples from around the same time, only one a coffin-end...

1796: https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/36658

1789: https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/44762

1808: https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/5544

~Cheryl