Featured Need help on 'coin silver' mark - R. T & Co.

Just bought a few spoons and was told they were from a collection of 'coin silver' from 'R.T & Co' that belonged to the seller's ancestors, who lived in Macon, Georgia circa 1838.

I can find very limited info on R. T & Co, only that they may have worked with Ivory Hall, a well known silversmith and jeweler from Concord, NH at some time.

I'm not even sure if R.T & Co was the silversmith, distributor or retailer. There's literally nothing on this company, who ran it, where it was located, or what R. T. even stands for.

It puzzles me, because the pattern looks identical to 'Jenny Lind' by Alpert Coles, which came out in 1850. Some say he may have copied an older British pattern, changed it a little and then patented it as his own in the U.S.

I am attaching 2 pictures of what I bought, but also another picture from a spoon I saw while researching, with what looks to be English marks.

Any info will greatly be appreciated.

 

what marks are on your spoons......!

 

The picture of the not-your spoons shows an American (probably) pseudo-mark - definitely not English. RT&Co here is likely to be the retailer.

 

and poorly struck, so as to mislead...imo

 

"Coin silver" was a mark used exclusively in America, as far as I know. So the chances of it also being English are very slim, if those marks are real, which as the others have pointed out, they are not...

 

The 2nd picture. At the top, there is a mark on handle at base. It only reads 'R.T & Co.

 

why yes there is!!
Sorry, but that was easy to overlook from that photo !

 

I’d vote for retailer mark. In that case it will often be pretty hard to track down more info. They may have bought from multiple suppliers. If you can however track the retailer to the south in may add a bit of value. Southern made coin silver is worth more than northern made coin silver in most cases. There was a lot less of it made. Southern retailed isn’t as much of a thing but may add a bit of interest for a buyer. Western made coin silver also desirable.

 

Hello and welcome.

It is American coin. Family 'histories' are often mistaken, even if they were in Georgia in 1838, these spoons weren't there then, the pattern wasn't introduced until 1850.

The only connection between Ivory Hall and the unidentified 'R.T & CO.' is that their stamp was found on a piece bearing a 'crown' maker's mark attributed to Ivory Hall.

As said, so far as I know, this mark remains unidentified, but is almost certainly a Northeastern US retailer. The majority of silvermiths were wholesalers, and some, like Ivory Hall, were also retailers, selling their production to the public as well as to the trade.

It is Albert Coles' 'Jenny Lind' pattern, just doesn't bear his marks (I have a large Coles 'Jenny Lind' spoon without any marks). A very popular pattern, it was copied by other makers with some variations - it is not a copy of an older British pattern, and the only British pattern found in Pickford's 'Silver Flatware: English, Irish and Scottish 1660-1980' (1983) bearing any resemblance is a scarce mid 19th century 'Olive' variant by Chawner called 'Wellington'. So far as I know there hasn't been a patent found for 'Jenny Lind', though there are later Coles patents - not all patterns were patented, and can't see any reason it wouldn't have been his design.

McGrew's 'Manufacturers' Marks on American Coin Silver' (2004) shows these pseudo-marks (G/bust/lion) as unidentified, but belonging to a Troy, NY maker based on the majority of their retailers being based in Troy. So in addition to the 'R.T & CO.' stamp being found alone, it's also found on pieces produced in New Hampshire and New York, and could be found on pieces by other makers as well...


~Cheryl