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Cape Silver Dessert Fork - William Moore, showing error in Morrison and Heller
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Reference: S1555
Period: Victorian
Year: 1840-1863
Silversmith: William Moore
Place: Cape
Price: $ 180.00
Weight: 44 grams
Dimensions: 17.5 cm
Condition: Excellent, tines perfect, very sharp.
Description: A Cape silver Fiddle pattern dessert fork, with contemporary engraved initial M. The fork has excellent hallmarks, makers mark WM and the Cape Stub mark (see our articles section) consisting of 4 English pseudo hallmarks, Lion passant, date letter capital A, Georgian kings head duty mark and leopards head (town mark for London). The fork is very good quality and weight, and is suitable for use. The tines are very long, longer than usual, this fork has probably not been used. What is interesting about this Cape stub mark is that the punch is showing signs of wear, particularly the Leopards head. This lead to a mistake in Morrison (The Silversmiths and Goldsmiths of the Cape of Good Hope, 1936, pg 59), and later Heller (History of Cape Silver), where the hallmark is mistakenly drawn as an anchor (MM63 in Heller, pg 154).
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Cape Silver Dessert Fork - William Moore
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Cape Silver hallmark showing wear to Leopards head
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Cape Silver fork with scale
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