Featured I think I have a Pair of 1779 Silver Serving Spoons!

Picked up these 2 spoons at a sale. Lorentz Lindgren. Marks have tis dating in the 1700's. One site I looked at has those 3 oblong marks and is dating it to 1779. The back does not have the rat tail but you can tell it was attached. And the edge right near the well is angled. Pretty cool spoon.

 

Looks like there are a letter an number inside the tiny rectangle? Can you read it?

 

L2, I found these date to 1793.

 

Not an expert but something seems odd to me. The makers mark, date letter and silver mark are on the top instead of the bottom. This is not only ugly but it would prevent the 1793 owner from putting their monogram on the most visible area. Is this a common thing for Swedish silver makers to do in 1793????
Cheers
Stephen

 

"Any item deemed to have a collecting value runs the risk of faking. Twice in recent history spoon values have been temporarily affected by the now well documented output of the skilled serial forger Peter Ashley Russell. His forgeries ranged from old spoons struck with fabricated punches to give the impression they were early rarities, as well as totally fabricated pieces of cutlery."
https://www.antiquestradegazette.com/guides/collecting-guides/silver-spoons/

So, could this be an 'oops' by a faker? Using an old spoon, and realizing after the fact, that he had just ruined a silver spoon of at least some value by trying to add hallmarks? That might be more unique than the original!

 

Nice old Swedish spoons, what is their size? And not sure what you mean by the above?

They would have been placed on the table with the interior of the bowl down...

~Cheryl

 

https://images.auctionet.com/uploads/item_936083_4037f91f8a.JPG

Well, this is why you need experts:


The mark is on the top. Or more accurately, the bottom, per above post.

 

There's nothing wrong with these spoons other than one bowl being a bit dented - despite their age, they're not anything that would be worth forging...

~Cheryl

 

Interesting info from everyone, thanks. Spoon is 7 7/8" long.

 

Thought that was probably around the size, though they probably seem large, were more likely table spoons, place pieces, used for eating, soups, stews, or anything really...

I've always known spoons and forks marked like this as 'French style/fashion', and the place pieces are still sometimes placed 'face-down' at French tables.

These spoons have a different mark, but same maker - also marked on the top, one has prick-engraved initials on the other side: https://auctionet.com/en/851983-skedar-3-st-silver-ca-35-gr-mastare-lorenz-lindgren-boras-1795

~Cheryl

 

There is nothing wrong with those spoons. Silver spoons were valuable, so at the time one wanted to show the hallmarks when placed on the table. The city stamp of Borås showed two wool scissors and between them a yardstick.

Lorenz Lindegren entered 1775 and moved to another city 1803. The Date letter L2 is correct, 1793.

 

Nice find!