Featured Giant sterling spoon--circa 1769?

Thank you for this lookup! My HCB has serifs, so it's not the same HCB that you found. But that's further than I got, as I couldn't find anything even close. Another member suggested that it might be Danish, so I've been looking in that direction, as well.

 

lol, my first thought was that would hurt to get smacked on your knuckles with(memories of getting slapped with a spoon for sticking my fingers into a mixing bowl)

 

I found this link, has HCB but 122 pages so I didn't go through it. The marks are early, quick look showed some from the 1600.
https://ia800902.us.archive.org/32/items/handbooktoforeig00mark/handbooktoforeig00mark.pdf

 

Thanks! I found the only reference to HCB, but it refers to the 1600s, so maybe a bit too early.

 

Here is the result of the acid test. As a control piece, I used a small square of 925 sterling sheet, seen in the upper right corner. As you can see, both streaks turned a good red color. And the 18k acid turned both streaks blue.


I filed a section to see if there was thick plating.
It does not appear to be plated. I see no evidence of a coating of any kind.



Here is the very worn down edge of the bowl, which also doesn't show any evidence of plating.



Based on these these observations, I feel strongly that it is silver.
Why it doesn't have an assay mark is a mystery!

 

What country did you buy it in? Paul Revere just marked his pieces with last name or PR.

 

I bought it in an antique mall in New Mexico.
A very unlikely place, I'll admit!

 

the plot thickens.................

 

Stracci, I was expressing my skepticism about the combination of things, not that your acid test was wrong. But your section of posts and pictures of how and what you tested is great! So many inexperienced folks don't understand what they should do for a proper test.

 

Of course you are right to be skeptical. Even as I forked over $10+tax, I was doubtful!
The "what if?" made me do it.
I will persist in researching till I come up with something concrete on the origins of this crazy spoon.

 

u forked over 10 bucks...for a spoon !

 

Ok, I took it to a well regarded pawn shop instead.
They weighed it at 208.5 grams, or 6.5 oz.
They confirmed sterling. The guy tried to tell me that the engraving was done with an electric tool, and that it said 769........
I just played dumb, and then he offered me $100....
I said I'd think about it, grabbed my spoon and ran!
Kthanksbye!!

 

an average person might also see an electric tool mark.....
but we know better !

 

They never said anything about age, origin, etc.
Like as if they didn't want to let on that it might be antique or whatever.
Don't let the customer know that they have a treasure! Just quote today's metal price, and see if they'll go for it!

 

after all....it is a pawn shop !

 

Did you notice the colon-like marks between the letters? No, I don't think this was done with an electric tool. Of course, there's no way to know for sure that the etching was done then, but it looks legit to me.

 

Popping in because it seems to be getting a bit complicated here - this is not a particularly uncommon form in Europe as well as the US, might be described as for stuffing, basting, stew, porridge, etc. - sizes typically run around 12 to 15 inches long, give or take a bit. The prick-engraved '1769' is fine, though any engraving is not necessarily a reliable date of manufacture, and the lack of assay office marks not a problem, it bears a maker's mark, and other marks that are unclear. I'd find the use of sterling quality silver a bit anomalous, would typically be lower (excepting British or French made), and the threaded drop is odd on this spoon, perhaps the swage for a threaded fiddle spoon was used. Did the pawn shop test by XRF?

This spoon is almost certainly Northern European, my personal guess would be Danish, though it could certainly be from elsewhere - this may be your maker, Hans Christian Boysen from Flensburg, Schleswig-Holstein (Danish in 1769), but a source shows him as not gaining his citizenship until 1778, so he shouldn't have been working yet in 1769 - perhaps it was done to commemorate an earlier event *shrug*. There are huge numbers of unidentified/undocumented makers, and online sources are limited, there's good chance that this maker might never be positively identified...






Just following up on my guess of Danish, where they would be described as either a 'grødske' (porridge spoon) or 'potageske' (stew spoon), here is an old thread on 925-1000, unfortunately the image of the spoon is long gone, but the discussion interesting:
https://www.925-1000.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=34349



This piece, of similar size and form, bears Copenhagen hallmarks from 1778:
https://www.lundinantique.com/stort.asp?selbinr=391972&T2=westrup&vissolgt=on



Another from a Danish dealer, bearing unidentified marks:
https://www.danamantique.com/stort.asp?language=44&selbinr=343434&kukat=7492&valuta=USD




~Cheryl

 

Thanks @DragonflyWink for all the great information. The 1780 HCB image you show looks very similar to the one on my spoon.
The H and C appear to touch, just as it appears on the 2nd strike on my spoon.
I think you have given me the closest answer, and the most likely maker. I really appreciate your taking the time to look all this up for me and my spoon!

 

What do we make of this on the back? Lovely piece, just figured someone would have asked about this already:

 

It looks like the number "10".
It's got to have some meaning. Tenth in a series?
Or is it the letters I and D? Another quandary!