A tale of two old spoons

I had my doubts about both these old spoons but thought I could not get harmed much for 35 cents each. I thought the smaller to have the potential to be solid silver but bears no marks indicating so. The larger is marked Sterling but just did not have the feel of sterling (too heavy). One thing I have learned is that you can't always judge silver by its marks or lack thereof.



Turns out my instincts were right. The smaller one is by Bradbury M. Bailey (1824-1930) of VT. It is also marked Rutland, Vt. so dates to after 1854. It is undoubtedly coin silver. Here is some information.

http://vermontjournal.com/ron-patch/b-m-bailey-ludlow-silversmith



The larger one is marked AM'N Sterling along with some other marks. I found it is by the American Sterling Co. and that they worked in plate. Here is an authoritative response about this mark on the 925-100 site by our own dragonflywink:

http://www.925-1000.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3080

 

The top one looks like coin silver. That second mark looks suspect from the jump.

 

Nice tale....at least one spoon paid off...