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Hi all - any help appreciated with this old english pattern teaspoon with only a maker's mark MK and a very rubbed mark in which i think i can detect the bottom of a crowned harp could be a fancy v - sorry the photographs are terrible and one day i'll get decent camera. there is a makers mark on the site for Michael Keating in the 1780s which could be a good match for this mark. Now my pocket guide shows the same MK mark for a Michael Keating in the 1850s (surely not the same person unless he was making spoons in his late 80s) which doesn't feel right. Firstly the spoon looks and feels older, and secondly in the 1850s it would be properly marked. Any thoughts appreciated. Alternatively I might be barking up the wrong tree and it's a provincial spoon - Thanks frank

PS wasn't Mr Keating something of a famed duty dodger.
PPS spoon has had a tough life

Hi Frank,

There were two Michael Keatings, the maker of your spoon, and another that registered at the Dublin Assay Office in 1851.

Keating (1) was known to have forged hallmarks. In 1777 he was fined £50 and sentenced to six months imprisonment.

See: http://www.925-1000.com/forum/viewtopic ... 56&t=12625" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Regards Trev.

Thanks Trev - a nice addition to my tiny but growing (slowly) Irish collection - appreciate the input. Frank