Downturned fiddle handle, flared shoulders, script mono T.A. Hatch on front; 8-5/8" long. Combined weight is a tad over 3 T oz. Overall condition is excellent, mark is outstanding (see pic).

Made by E. Jaccard & Co., St. Louis -- at 8-7/8" in length, it is a mid-sized ladle suitable for serving soup out of a small crock, or gravy out of a large bowl, or grog out of a middlin'-sized cup, or perhaps it is an oyster ladle used to pluck the briny shellfish out of whatever they are served in. In the event, it is a neat piece, with a pinched-waist fiddle handle, high pointed shoulders and a 2-7/8" oval bowl, and engraved on the front the letters B.C.A.M.A...

Spatulate-end fiddle handle with flared shoulders; full-name mono on the front, S.M. Stewart in feathered script. Length is 6", condition is excellent, no tipwear at all. The Phinney & Mead partnership lasted from 1850-57 (see David Perrin's book on Vermont silversmiths).

Early fiddle handle, c1815 -- slight pointed shoulders, drop on bowl back, feathered script mono M P on front; 9" in length. Weight is 2 T oz. each. Condition is excellent.

Pinched-waist fiddle handle, pointed shoulders, script mono on front; 8-1/8" in length. Condition is fine. Mitchell is not listed in any of the books dedicated to Missouri silver. However, the 1860 census lists George Mitchell, age 41, as a jeweller, with a wife and 2 sons. Further, spoons have been collected which show both Mitchell's mark and his home town of Hannibal. Probably by this time, Sam Clemens would have moved east.

Pinched-waist fiddle handle, c1850 -- pointed shoulders, feathered script mono S J L on front; 8-5/8" long, each weighs 50 grams. Condition of both is excellent.

Best, his 2 brothers and father were early silversmiths in Cincinnati. This spoon was made during the period he was associated with Deterly and Woodruff, from 1815-17. It has a downturnd fiddle handle, pointed shoulders, and is 9-1/2" long. This piece was never engraved. It is in excellent condition with just a touch of tipwear.

Double-swell fiddle handle, script mono E M on reverse, 7-3/8" long. Heavy set of spoons, at just under 9 T. oz. Condition is near-mint. Also marked on back "Fine" (see pic).

Retailed by F.A. & L. Lesouereux of Columbus, made by Whiting Mfg. Co. -- forward tipt fiddle handle, sugarloaf shoulders, 5-1/2" long, 2.75 T oz. Mono on front in script is Nancy Mark. Condition, after 150 years, is excellent.

Pinched-waist fiddle handle, pointed shoulders, script mono M A on front; 8-1/2" long, a bit over 1 T oz. Condition is excellent. Marked with Whiting lion, COIN and by the retailer, Bassett & Elliott. The pinched-wast fiddle originated in the Midwest, probably with the Kinsey boys or Duhme, yet examples by Whiting are fairly common. Why? One suggestion is that Whiting's manufacturing and sales organization could out-compete the local companies.

Forward-tipt fiddle handle, flared shoulders, old English mono M.M. on front; 8-1/2" in length. Condition is excellent. Cutten & Peacock, in their book, "Silversmiths of North Carolina," assumed that the N-C included in the maker's mark meant that Hanna was from NC. Not so, as it turns out.

Downturned fiddle handle, flared shoulders, reverse tipt, script mono O. L. Bailey on front; 6-3/4" long. Condition is excellent. Marked with Westerveldt's Lion, Star and D.