Provincial Tongs

[Aguest]

::: I recall seeing a thread describing this strange "O" that is not a date letter, but has a significance that has become obscured with time :::
::: I cannot tell if the makers mark is "FE" in a vertical stack. It could be some other combination of letters. These should be provincial :::

[Aguest]

Might be an "L" stacked on top of another "L" ....

[Aguest]

This particular tong was so mysterious, it still haunts my memory, I am leaning towards Scottish Provincial....

[Aguest]

I wonder if the New Member "Elspeth" might take a look at these tongs, I believe they are Scottish Provincial, perhaps by an unknown maker?

[Aguest]

Ok, the maker is "James Erskine" and the member Cliff Nunn has a very similar pair with the mysterious "O" and the two letters....

I knew I had seen a pair of these tongs before! I am trying to upload the pics from Cliff Nunn, but I get blocked due to privacy concerns...

[Aguest]

Of course, in the extensive article in the silver magazine "The Finial," hallmarks such as those found on my pair and Cliff Nunn's pair are not listed.

Whoever made these tongs, I can assure you that these hallmarks are identical, even the curious extremely close stamping of the [F] on top of the [E} are extremely similar, almost identical:

[Aguest]

The mark showing in the pic in the above post is the "Stylized O" or perhaps a "Stylized Q" which has unknown significance.