Five Pairs
William Chatterton mark is hard to distinguish or even confirm, there were several makers in that period with the marks W C. l cannot be sure of the maker, William Chatterton was known to be a maker of Tea Tongs, this is known because in 1767 he was prosecuted for "soldering bits of standard silver to tea tongs and buckles and sending them to the Companys assay office, in order fraudulently to obtain their marks to the same"
The Makers marks on all these tongs are not all the same, they could be by William Goslee or William Cox ll or William Cox lll with the cut punch marks they are very similar to William Cripps but there is no pellet and he was a largeworker so would he of made Tongs?
This first mark looks like a W G but the punch has cut corners.
This mark as can been seen is more like William Chatterton.
An Oblong punch with W G?
An unusual pair of Tongs, these are cast tongs with no piercing, they have an attractive feather edge engraving along the edge, for a pair of tongs they are very narrow.
This punch is not the easiest to make out, there has been a repair to the arm, causing the punch to have been "rubbed"
This is a very clear punch
These Tongs are in near mint condition, they are very solid and have attractive "acorn style" bowls and elborate casting.