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One of my main areas of custom is in selling flatware. Below is a short guide on what to look out for when buying Kings Pattern silver cutlery, but the same principles apply for Queens pattern or any other patterned cutlery.
Some basic questions you should ask when buying Kings pattern flatware are listed below. A good seller will be able to answer these questions easily:
1) Is it double or single struck? This is probably the most important thing to find out and should be clear from any picture. If not ask - single struck has the pattern to the front ONLY. Double struck will have the pattern to both sides of the item. Knives will always be (in effect) double struck.
2) Is the item Union Heel? Shell Heel or Diamond Heel? Again this should be clear from a photo of the backs of the spoons / forks. I will be getting a few pictures to show the difference. try and build a canteen with the same types of heel.
3) Is there any wear? Kings pattern is usually heavy gauge (thickness) and quite good at withstanding wear. Look for wear to the shell / diamond heel on the backs of the forks and spoons. Lipping to the bowl rim where a spoon has been worn can give a sharp, quite dangerous edge to the bowl and make the spoon unuseable until sorted out. When made a spoon should have a good, thick, flat rim to it.
Tines to forks are also subject to wear and will usually curve to one side depending on left or right hand use. Good tines will be straight, all in line and not sharpened to a needlepoint. Also look out for ground tines which have been shortened to make them flat. This is usually easy to spot as the tines will be short and have a flat, square end. Scratches to the backs of fork tines are not considered to be an issue really.
Questions to ask on wear: Is there any lipping to the spoons? Are the tines worn or sharpened? Have the tines been shortened? Is there wear to the handle pattern or heel pattern?
4) Are there any monograms or crests removed? This can seriously devalue an item - all my descriptions will state if there are any monograms or crests and if any have been removed. Luckily for Kings pattern this is relitively easy to spot. Remember to look at and ask details for both the front and the back of the item. The detailing in the monogram area (the top of the handle) should be unworn. The vacant monogram area itself should be slightly 'domed'. Any sign of uneveness or pitting or wear in this area will probably indicate a monogram or crest having been removed. As a general rule i would say this can halve the value of an item.
Interestingly, older Georgian and Victorian canteens will out-last a more modern one due to the way they were made. Each item was beaten out by hand (to a large extent) and this process of work gave the item much more strength and wear resistance than the modern mass production methods of manufacture.
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