Value of or any information on 1836 Silver Spoons marked "Baldwin&Cowles"

[Billromigh]

Hmm.. is there any physical tests or ways of seeing if they are truly sterling? Any more information about baldwin&cowles would be very much appreciated. Thanks -Bill

[ironlord1963]

On way is to see if there is any plate loss, many old silverplate has worn spots on the bottom of the Spoon Bowl.  Sometimes you have to polish them up to find plate loss, I will have to look at your photo's again, but I didn't notice any plate loss.

[ironlord1963]

Can we get a shot of the back side of the spoon Bowl?

[Billromigh]

back of spoon

[ironlord1963]

Nope don't see any plate loss there,  I did make a bit more head ways on Balwin and Cowle, Nothing on Ebay but the seach is turning up lots about Coin Silver by Baldwin and Cowle.  Coin silver is silver made from Coins, a practice used for 100's of years.  Basically Coins were melted into silver objects and then they would melt them down for coins when they needed money basically.  I think coin silver is a bit less silver in them then Sterling.  but all in all if coin silver this spoon would still get you a easy $15.00 in value.  I am a bit unsure about if coin silver had to be marked as such, I have a couple of coin silver flatware pieces, but they are marked Coin. 

[Billromigh]

heres a spoon that was more "roughed" up. Does this look like plate loss or just tarnish cus i have idea between the difference.thanks

[ironlord1963]

That is Tarnish,  Plate loss will show a slight different color of silver much Duller, They are usually made with nickle silver under the silver, and when the plate wears off this is exposed.  Let me go dig up a spoon and take a pick of plate loss.  BRB

[ironlord1963]

O.k. here is a shot of a spoon with heavy plate loss on what is call the heel, this is where most flatware will loose it's plate first, because of contact with the table and stacked on top of each other.  Also, I think what you have is a coin silver spoon, based on what I have read about Balwin, and I see no loss in plate, Tipped pattern was common around the date on the spoon, and so was the popularity of Coin Silver.

[Billromigh]

yeah i can definetely see the difference. I plan on selling these as thats why i bought them. Probably on EBAY. I dont know i i shoulf try to find more info or just start the bid at 15.00x6 and go from there. Oh and do you know any good home polish methods to remove tarnish safely?

[ironlord1963]

As for Polish, any soft past Silver polish will do well, Right now silver is selling well on ebay, mostly because people will try and buy it for scrape, many cases in hopes the price will go up.  They only issue we have is you will have to post them as Coin Silver to get that price, and still without 100% nailing down that they are, you will have to rely on the buyer knowing they are coin silver.  But let me go take a look at what coin silver flatware is going for before we can truely say a good start price is $15.00 per.

[ironlord1963]

From what I can tell $15.00 each would be a excellent starting price, if they are coin silver.  thanks for posting such a wonderful thread

[Billromigh]

Yeah i wish they would sell to someone who thinks theyr interesting and rare not to see them just melted down. And okay ill wait until you check. Thanks again!

[Billromigh]

thanks for your help. im going to be starting a new thread for some china doll heads i also bought. i cant seem to exactly match them up with any other ones. if your knowledgable in that area i would look forward to your posts.

[ironlord1963]

    I have several sterling silver items, that I will not post right now.  We are in our 3rd big melt down in the last 100 years right now.  This is one reason it is hard to find old sterling silver items. The one before was in the early 80's I remember because all the people on the sides of the road with signs we buy gold and silver, and once again we see this.  Kind of sad for sure, but if you are a true dealer in Gold and Silver and care little about the history then now is the time to buy and sell.  So for me I'll just wait on my silver until I can sell it to be saved.

[ironlord1963]

   Funny you should mention China dolls, my girlfriend just picked up lots of china dolls at the auction a few hours ago, and we don't know much, but before we are done I'm sure we will.