Presented is a superb quality antique English sterling silver serving spoon. This piece is dated 1741, and stamped with a maker's mark of SW. The spoon is very ornately hand engraved with classical foliate scrollwork and acanthus leaf decoration against a stippled textured background, with a scoll-enclosed cartouche on the upturned terminal of the handle. The bowl of the spoon is richly gold gilt and intricately chased with a genre or courting scene of a man playing a fiddle for a woman, with trees and buildings in the background.
This piece is hallmarked with the lion passant for sterling silver, the leopard's head crowned for the city of London, the date letter F for 1741, and a maker's mark of SW, listed in Arthur Grimwade's book of gold and silversmiths, unidentified but with a date range of 1739-1742.
This piece is in excellent condition. There are no splits, no dents, no breaks, no monograms, no monogram removals, and no repairs.
The spoon measures about 7 7/8 inches long.
This piece weighs 44 grams or 1.6 regular ounces. -jm
