Q & A

S. L-R. of Ajax, Ontario writes:

The Silver Tea Pot and the spoons were given to me by my Grandmother who lives in Long Beach, California. She is 88 years old now. She said the tea pot was from Turkey. It weighs maybe more than a pound and the size (lengthwise) is around 11 inches. About the Spoon: Grandma didn't say much about it. It's around 4-5 inches in length. ( I have 4 of them with different embossed prints, all silver.)
1. Silver tea pot with serial # 1756
2. Silver spoon with a date that says May 26, 1776
What can you tell me about them?

We asked Roger Crowther to respond:

The little photographic puzzle that came me has produced a solution which will not, I think, meet expectations. So it goes. The pot is not a tea-pot. It is a cocktail shaker made by the Lawrence B. Smith Co. (Founded on Boston in 1887 and out of business about 1958.)The marks on the base date it after 1920. I think it would have been made between 1925 &1930, when cocktails were popular (shaken). After 1929 nobody could afford them except the very rich who would have had sterling shakers. This pot is electroplated nickel-silver. Not valuable except, perhaps as an heirloom. The spoons look like American commemoratives. The Latin inscription (as I read it) ‘Esse unam videt,’ means ‘It seems to be one,’ and is a pictorial representation--recruiting the classical Gods for the purpose- of ‘De Pluribus Unum’ – ‘One from several’ (United States), with the date of the American Revolution. Without a sterling mark they are not silver. If there is a sterling mark it may be trusted; the colour of the spoons suggests that they have been gilded. Again, pleasing, but not valuable.