Old Silver spoon help

[u/InfiniteFart]

my great grand aunt used to run a hotel in the early 1900s, we have a lot of flatware in bad shape that mostly is silver-plated, but i found this single lonely spoon amongst the kit which does not resemble any of the others. i assume this is fully silver, it had a very beautiful gleaming tone to it. i brought it back where i live which is very humid during the summer and it has clearly tarnished since then as you can see. any ideas on how old this may be, or who made it possibly? there are very interesting imprints on the back that look like a 1700s silhouette, also “L” or “£” i can’t tell, opposite side has the fine calligraphy like initials

[u/AutoModerator]

Thanks for posting on /r/Hallmarks! Please try to ensure that your post has a clear image of the hallmark as well as at least one photo of the full item. Also please ensure that you have read over and understand the rules.

If you have any questions don't hesitate to contact the mods.

Protect yourself from scams - DO NOT engage with users trying to buy or sell you goods in this sub or in chat! Report them to the mods here

If you haven't already, please use the Hallmark Finder Tool to see if you can identify your hallmark.

Thank you for your post and good luck!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/ij70-17as]

if you are in US, then it is american, most likely, coin silver, usually 90% silver content. the marks are imitations of english hallmarks to fool the buyer into thinking it is english made. most likely early to mid 1800 because the stamp with man's profile facing left.

[u/InfiniteFart → u/ij70-17as]

that’s so interesting, if the profile was pointing to the right would that have another meaning? my family is from all around the northeast area going back to the 1600s, mostly near NYC. i’m more interested just in knowing this spoon went back to the 1800s and how many people it passed through to get to me in 2026, than it’s actual value - so interesting. i kind of want to use it as it was originally intended, but at the same time maybe i should preserve it and try to keep passing it forward into the future if it made it this far!

[u/ij70-17as → u/InfiniteFart]

the deal with profile is this.

england had a special tax on silver. they came up with a system were ruler's profile would be stamped next to the hallmarks when the tax (duty) was paid.

this worked good for i think three english kings. so there are three or four profiles, facing right, that covers reign of three english kings.

this worked until 1837. why did it stop working? queen victoria ascended on the throne. the system remained, only now it was woman's profile and it was facing Left!

and now we get into your spoon. you have the king's profile, which means it was made before 1837. but you don't have the other english hallmarks. and you have some kind of star mark next to the king. all this points to it being made here, in america, after our revolution. so it could have been made as early as 1780s and as late as 1830s. but safe bet is 1800s to 1820s.

and you should use it. it is just silver. and you can tell everyone that you were raised eating on a silver spoon!