JW - John James Whiting - Incuse Mark on Tongs

[dognose]

Noted on a pair of tongs that was part of a set of 32 pieces of flatware made by John James Whiting, all bearing the same hallmarks for 1836, and all engraved with the same crest.

The tongs are the exception to the rest of the set as far as the maker only, and were made by Benoni Stephens and bear his mark, but the tongs also bear the additional incuse mark 'JW'.


The set:


The tongs:


The mark of Benoni Stephens:


The unrecorded mark:


The unrecorded mark with the hallmarks:


The marks on the rest of the flatware, including the registered mark of John James Whiting (and a nice example of John Smith's 'Grinning monkey'):


Trev.

[Sindidziwa]

Thanks for this. Benoni Stephens was a distant relative of mine. I have a few of his pieces and most have the JW mark on them. I had not been able to work out what this referred to. Does this mean that Whiting made silver for Benoni Stephens who then hallmarked it?
Thanks for your help

William Stephens

[dognose]

Two more examples of the additional 'JW' mark, this time on spoons, again with the mark of Benoni Stephens and same year of assay:





Trev.