18th Century English Hanoverian Silver Spoon Collection

• Britannia Standard - A higher grade of silver than sterling silver. Britannia standard silver contains at least 958 parts per thousand of pure silver, while sterling silver contains at least 925 parts per thousand of pure silver.
  
  The Britannia standard was obligatory in Britain between 1697 and 1720 and after that was optional, so there are very few silver items that come onto the market that are Britannia standard.
  
  Not to be confused with silver plated Britannia metal items, often marked as "EPBM", a pewter type alloy, that when unplated can be temporarily polished to a silver-like lustre.
• Circa - A Latin term meaning 'about', often used in the antique trade to give an approximate date for the piece, usually considered to be five years on either side of the circa year. Thus, circa 1900 means the piece was made about 1900, probably between 1895 and 1905. The expression is sometimes abbreviated to c.1900.
• Marrow Spoon - A spoon with a long handle and a narrow scoop shaped bowl, used to scoop and eat marrow from the hollow centre of roasted bones. Some marrow scoops are double ended with a different shaped bowl at each end.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• Bateman, Hester (London) - silver, maker or retailer 145
• silver cutlery / flatware, patterns
  • Hanover pattern 98
  • Hanoverian pattern 96
• spoons, silver - other, various types and periods 1,227