Big Old Honkin' Chunk of Silver

Daddy Digger met up with me yesterday for a day of detecting at a park and school grounds. We had a very enjoyable day. I hadn't been detecting in quite a while and it was great to get out.

At the first site I managed 8 Wheat Cents and a 1940 Washington Quarter.

At the second site I got 9 Wheat Cents and a 1934-S Buffalo Nickel.

I also got a bucket list item at the school grounds, a sterling silver spoon! In all of my years of detecting I had never found a silver eating utensil of any kind. This sterling spoon was really deep, about 10" to 11" and when I finally got down to it I thought it was an old sardine tin or something. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that it was a very large sterling silver serving spoon!

Here are the day's finds:
Attachment 48722
Attachment 48723
Attachment 48724
Attachment 48725
Attachment 48726
Attachment 48727
Attachment 48728


I want to thank DaddyDigger for making the trip up to detect with me. He is a great detectorist and I appreciate his friendship.

Thanks for looking and happy hunting! :beerbuddy:

Great job Tony. That spoon is massive.
Congrats on the Washington & Buff, I bet it felt good to be :detecting:again.
We'll see ya next weekend. Don

I'm glad you and Dave got together and were able to snag a bucket lister. It seems odd that you hadn't dug a silver utensil. What does it weigh? Nice haul Tony!:clapping:

It was a lot of fun meeting up with you Tony. I always enjoys our hunts. Congrats on all the great finds you had. We didn't find a lot of old coins but the ones we did find were good ones! That spoon is probably equivalent to a silver dollar in weight.

Have you deciphered the hallmarks yet? Here's what I learned about it. The American company of Starr & Marcus was in business from 1862 to 1877. Most Starr & Marcus marked pieces were made by either Gorham or John R. Wendt. Yours has the Gorham trademark (Lion, Anchor, G). Also, the spoon may have value above melt. Looks like there is a collector's market for them. BTW, I read that Gorham had a big fire in March of 1877 and almost all of the Starr & Marcus inventory was lost. This may be why they went out of business so suddenly.

I'm looking forward to our next trip together. Take care and HH, Dave.

Congrats on your first silver spoon Tony :yahoo::cheering::cheering: from the looks of the bowl I suspect some right handed kid snag his mothers good silverware to play in the dirt and lost it .;) it will look great in one of your relic displays my friend .

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DaddyDigger

Have you deciphered the hallmarks yet? Here's what I learned about it. The American company of Starr & Marcus was in business from 1862 to 1877. Most Starr & Marcus marked pieces were made by either Gorham or John R. Wendt. Yours has the Gorham trademark (Lion, Anchor, G). Also, the spoon may have value above melt. Looks like there is a collector's market for them. BTW, I read that Gorham had a big fire in March of 1877 and almost all of the Starr & Marcus inventory was lost. This may be why they went out of business so suddenly.

I'm looking forward to our next trip together. Take care and HH, Dave.

---

Great detective work on the spoon's hallmarks , Dave :notworthy:

Great hunt and nice bucket list silver!!

That spoon is one sweet piece of silver !

That is a NICE find. I think Dan is right. My kid brother did the same with my mother's old sterling spoons.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lodge Scent

That is a NICE find. I think Dan is right. My kid brother did the same with my mother's old sterling spoons.

---

Jeff , I speak from experience ... I use to "borrow" my Mom's spoons to dig in the dirt and I lost so many in the mud she bought me a metal detector to find them because she was tired of buying more . :lol:

Nice group of keeper still Tony!
Do you have a scale?
I was wonderimg how much does the spoon weigh?
Thats a nice hunk of silver!
Congrats!:grin:

Even tho it's a little cheap I like the look/color swirl of the green heart pendant. So it took less time for me to find a solid silver utensil than it took for the silver master to get one? :thinkingabout:It even has the maker's marks. Any intention to sell it for the melt value? Congrats on the big silver and finally getting a bucket list item. Hey, that buff actually has a date. Yes, I know the 10 cent item is a key fob, but not so sure what it is supposed to be (a representation of).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by del

Jeff , I speak from experience ... I use to "borrow" my Mom's spoons to dig in the dirt and I lost so many in the mud

---

So this is where all the silverware came from? You?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MangoAve

Even tho it's a little cheap I like the look/color swirl of the green heart pendant. So it took less time for me to find a solid silver utensil than it took for the silver master to get one? :thinkingabout:It even has the maker's marks. Any intention to sell it for the melt value? Congrats on the big silver and finally getting a bucket list item. Hey, that buff actually has a date. Yes, I know the 10 cent item is a key fob, but not so sure what it is supposed to be (a representation of).

---

I still have never found a silver thimble either! :bummer:

I'm pretty sure that the "ten cents" item is an old Cracker Jack prize. It is plastic, it was in the hole with a wheat cent. On the other side it says "shine". It's an old shoe shine box.

Nice haul Tony,, conrats on the bucket list item!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DaddyDigger

Have you deciphered the hallmarks yet? Here's what I learned about it. The American company of Starr & Marcus was in business from 1862 to 1877. Most Starr & Marcus marked pieces were made by either Gorham or John R. Wendt. Yours has the Gorham trademark (Lion, Anchor, G). Also, the spoon may have value above melt. Looks like there is a collector's market for them. BTW, I read that Gorham had a big fire in March of 1877 and almost all of the Starr & Marcus inventory was lost. This may be why they went out of business so suddenly.

---

Thank you so much for this, Dave! Great information!

WTG Tony. Glad you got that silver spoon off your list! Nice bunch of wheats, along with silver. Good digging!

Great silver spoon find!!! It's an oldie too!!!

Great finds. Back in the day I can remember finding several silver thimbles now I can't even find any. Nice finds an nice to see you get out again. Miss your videos. WD

Congrats with your finds Tony. That spoon looks to be about $50 in silver.

Man, that is a big chunk of silver. Way to stick with it until you found it.