Featured I thought this could be silver as soon as I saw it

Greetings everyone! I hope you are all enjoying yourself, today was a fun day and a fun find. I am proud to say I made this purchase without knowing if the item was silver, but feeling confident I made the right guess. For today's post, I'll start with a photo of exactly what I saw in the store:



Now to the rest of the people sifting through the store, this must have looked like junk. But the first thing that made my heart beat faster was the thin portion of the ladle handle. You see, someone who is making a plated item most likely wouldn't have that thin handle. The tape was actually much tighter and covering the entire handle, so I couldn't get a peak at any markings on the back of the ladle. I try to play fairly at the thrift store; if it's wrapped up in tape I pretty much leave it that way and decide to purchase it based on the info in front of me.

So I flexed the handle a bit to feel the rigidity of the metal, and it was nice and springy just like silver should be at that particular thickness. I didn't think twice and for $5 I bought it.

Here's how it looks polished up:

 

How exciting !

 

Great find Mr Nate Truthfully I wouldn't have looked at it if I saw it either, but with your tip I will start to take a look!

 

Packaged with junk. Looks like junk. Nope.(LOL)

 

The maker appears to be Richard Ewing Smith, of Louisville, KY active from 1821-1849. This smaller ladle weighing .9 troy ouncs sold in 2018 for $130. Mine is 5.45 troy ounces, but something tells me there must have been a bidding war for the other one:

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/en-gb/item/62918688_louisville-kentucky-coin-silver-sauce-ladle

 

Two people wanted a piece from Grandma's home town, or made in the family factory, and neither was backing down? It happens.

 

VERY NICE, MrNate!!!!

 

Stylistically it does have the subtle look of American coin silver of the period, just slightly different from English pieces of basically the same design.

 

Hi Nate,
I was going through a box of silverplate flatware,I found in the junk store. Five spoons and eight forks were coin silver from the 1850s. I got them all for 75 cents. The woman running the store said to me "You know they are NOT silver."
I said "Yes ma'am going to make a wind chime with them."
greg

 

"I'll find something to do with it".

 

Wonderful find, @MrNate ! What were the other things that were taped to it?

 

Thank you figtree, the other two items taped to the ladle was a broken handle from a utensil and a spatula.

 

Thanks! I saw the spatula but didn't know what the rest was.

 

Nice find - the auction result on the smaller piece isn't really surprising, Southern coin silver generally brings more and not a common maker...

~Cheryl

 

A beautiful spoon. You did do well.