1705 Newcastle Francis Batty II Hanovarian Rattail Spoon

[legrandmogol]

1705 Newcastle Francis Batty II Hanovarian Rattail Spoon

In the pictures, you cannot make out the maker mark as it is very light. But in person, you can see it is the mark of Francis Batty the 2nd. I'm not quite sure how it makes sense though as I don't think he had a mark until 1706 but someone with more knowledge than I can possibly clear it up. I tried to get a picture of the mark and I will try again later but it doesn't show clearly. I think for Hanovarian spoons this is a very early provincial example.

[silvermakersmarks]

Newcastle date letters were theoretically changed in May each year; i.e. the 1705 D on your spoon would still have been in use in May 1706. In addition records show that the new date letter punch was not necessarily always ordered in time for use at the start of the new assay year.

Phil

[legrandmogol]

Ahh, ok. then this would probably be a 1706 spoon, thank you