A 17TH CENTURY SILVER SEAL-TOP SPOON, with rat-tail... Lot 5

A 17TH CENTURY SILVER SEAL-TOP SPOON, with rat-tail fig shaped bowl struck with fleur-de-lys mark, the square handle with second fleur-de-lys mark and maker's mark 'WD conjoined', with baluster terminal (1.3 troy ozs). 16.3cm long It is not clear what exactly the fleur-de-lys silver mark represents. Jackson's rules out this mark as a town mark, since it can be found on silver from a number of different regions in England and Scotland from the late 16th and 17th Century. It is suggested instead that the mark may indicate purity. See Jackson's Pgs. 522-523 for examples of same hallmarks.