THE DIRECTORY
OF CHANNEL ISLANDS SILVERSMITHS
MARKS AND HALLMARKS OF CHANNEL ISLANDS SILVER
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CHANNEL ISLANDS SILVERSMITHS -
ALPHABETICAL LISTING: UNIDENTIFIED MAKERS |
(click on the photo to enlarge image)
UNIDENTIFIED
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HM
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possibly Jersey c. 1700
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UNIDENTIFIED
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H.M
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Guernsey c. 1790
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UNIDENTIFIED
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HS
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Guernsey c. 1760
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UNIDENTIFIED
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IA
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Jersey 1685/1744
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UNIDENTIFIED
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IA crowned
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Guernsey c. 1753/1807
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UNIDENTIFIED
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ID inside a shield
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mark present on a spoon
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UNIDENTIFIED
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I.D
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Guernsey c. 1781/1788
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UNIDENTIFIED
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IH
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Guernsey c. 1725/1785
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UNIDENTIFIED
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IL crowned
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Jersey c. 1770
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UNIDENTIFIED
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IP
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Jersey beginning 18th c.
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UNIDENTIFIED
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IS
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Guernsey c. 1710/1720
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UNIDENTIFIED
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JC
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Jersey c. 1780/1790
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UNIDENTIFIED
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L.C crowned
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Jersey c. 1760/1800
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UNIDENTIFIED
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LP crowned
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Jersey c. 1710
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UNIDENTIFIED
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LP
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Jersey c. 1720
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UNIDENTIFIED
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LS
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Jersey c. 1710
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UNIDENTIFIED
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M
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Jersey c. 1780
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UNIDENTIFIED
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P.B crowned
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Jersey c. 1730/1750
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UNIDENTIFIED
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PD crowned
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Jersey c. 1740
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UNIDENTIFIED
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P.N
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Guernsey c. 1750
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UNIDENTIFIED
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PP
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Jersey 18th c.
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UNIDENTIFIED
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R.B crowned
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Jersey and Guernsey c. 1698
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UNIDENTIFIED
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SH
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Guernsey c. 1760
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UNIDENTIFIED
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SO
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Guernsey c. 1710
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UNIDENTIFIED
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SR
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Guernsey c. 1790
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UNIDENTIFIED
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T.B
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Jersey c. 1650/1660
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UNIDENTIFIED
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TC
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Jersey c. 1740
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UNIDENTIFIED
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TM
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Guernsey c. 1780/1790
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HALLMARKS OF ENGLISH SILVER -
MAKER'S MARK IDENTIFICATION
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BRITISH TOWN MARKS AND DATE LETTERS
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CHANNEL ISLANDS AND THEIR SILVER - A BRIEF HISTORY
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The inhabited islands of the Channel Islands are Jersey,
Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Herm (the main islands); Jethou,
Brecqhou (Brechou), and Lihou. All of these except Jersey are in
the Bailiwick of Guernsey, but the Minquiers, Écréhous, Les
Dirouilles and Les Pierres de Lecq (the Paternosters),
uninhabited groups of islets, are part of the Bailiwick of
Jersey. Burhou and the Casquets lie off Alderney.
The islands were annexed to the Duchy of Normandy in 933. In
1066, William II of Normandy, a vassal to the king of France,
invaded and conquered England, becoming William I of England,
also known as William the Conqueror.
Since 1204, the loss of the rest of the monarch's lands in
mainland Normandy has meant that the Channel Islands have been
governed as separate possessions of the Crown.
The legal system of the islands was based on the Norman Grand
Coutumier and many aspects of Norman law remain to the present
day. Even after Normandy was lost to France and the islands came
under the effective control of England, they still managed to
maintain their own legal system, customs and privileges, these
rights having been confirmed by successive monarchs since the
13th century. The system was however uncodified in Jersey until
1771 and from the 13th century islanders have maintained that
such customs and privileges are theirs of right. The most
important of these charters of ratification were granted by
Edward III in 1341 and by Elizabeth I in 1559.
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Large amounts of Channel Islands silver are unmarked in the
presumption that there was no reason to mark pieces ordered by a
customer to his goldsmith.
The London Goldsmiths' Company had no jurisdiction in the
Channel Islands and there being no legal standard of metal in
the Channel Islands other than that enacted in Jersey in 1771,
the retailer had to take personal responsibility for what he was
selling. This is perhaps the reason behind the practice of
Channel Island goldsmiths of overstriking the marks of the
original makers of the goods with their own.
The maker's mark on existing Channel Islands silver and gold
often reflects French influence, for instance in the inclusion
of a crown or a fleur de lis. They consists of two or
three initials, representing the initial letters of maker's name,
as in CWQ, for Charles William Quesnel. Occasionally the third
letter represents a preposition, as in TDG, for Thomas de Gruchy;
an article as in JLG, for John le Gallais or that of the last
name broken up to provide an extra initial, as in FKB, for
Francis Kerby (Kirby). This practice seems to derive from the
tendency of many Channel Islanders to use three initials,
because their last names (of French origin) carried le, la, de,
de la, or du. The use of initial marks became obligatory in
Jersey in 1771, when the Code des Lois (Code of Laws) was
published.
A typical artifact of Channel Islands silver is the "Presentation
Cup". These cups, commonly known as christening cups, of
a type rarely seen in Britain, present substantial stylistic
differences between the designs of the cups of Jersey and
Guernsey.
Both cups have two handles, but the Jersey cup is about one and
a half inches high and four inches in diameter while the
Guernsey cup is approximately two and a half inches high and
three inches in diameter with an everted or splayed out top. The
Jersey cup is shallow while the Guernsey cup is much deeper.
Occasionally these cups have two set of initials engraved on the
bowl and, following the French custom, may have been "marriage
cups"
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BASIC BIBLIOGRAPHY
Old Channel Islands Silver, its Makers and Marks
by Richard H. Mayne,
Print Holding & Investments Ltd, Jersey, 1969
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work in progress on this page - your help, corrections and
suggestions will be greatly appreciated -
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