Does anyone know something about Martin Silver??

Discussion in 'Silver' started by ola402, Feb 12, 2015.

  1. ola402

    ola402 Well-Known Member

    I bought these really cute silverplate coffee spoons and pie forks at an estate sale. They are marked Martin on the back and they are cataloged by the R site as, MTN7. I would like to know who this company is and where they are located in the world. Anyone know? Here's what I have. They are 5 7/8" long. The mark says Martin 90-18 with the figure of a man. Thanks!

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  2. terry5732

    terry5732 Well-Known Member

    German company

    Long out of business
     
  3. ola402

    ola402 Well-Known Member

    Thanks, Terry. Do you know when they closed or even a best guess?
     
  4. terry5732

    terry5732 Well-Known Member

    They were taken over by Wilkins. Probably '60s or so. Perhaps Wilkins still makes the pattern.
     
  5. fidbald

    fidbald Well-Known Member

  6. afantiques

    afantiques Well-Known Member

    Martin Silver was the Great Grandson of Long John Silver, the famous Pirate and one of his wives, Black Bess of Martinique (a name she retained even in later years while retired from cut-throating and running a country pub in Devon)

    Young Martin had an affinity and talent for animals, unhappily restricted to those of a slimy and unappealing variety, which in later life he exploited to run a successful leech farm.

    Although the supply of leeches to the doctors of the period was Martin Silver's mainstay in business, he also dabbled with rather arcane cures (or so he supposed) for some of the troublesome diseases of the time.

    It was fortunate that an uncanny element of luck attended his efforts, and some attribute this to guidance from the extraordinary and extremely aged parrot that was said to have belonged to his Great Grandfather. This almost featherless and entirely hideous bird was never heard to mumble anything but "Pieces of summat" but talk at the time suggested that Martin's cures were inspired by chats he had with the parrot in private, where the bird was said to be rather more compos mentis.

    His Black Draught for the Bloody Flux did no more than turn the flux black, but luckily the Black Flux was easily curable.
    His mistletoe berry cure for Elf Shot (now believed to have been a form of acne) led to several of the spottier citizens of his home town of Bristol sprouting such profuse mistletoe bunches that they were able to make a modest living supplying the Christmas trade from their regular prunings.

    His cure for Quinsey, involving tansy, pansy and tincture of hissop proved ineffective for the actual Quinsey, but it made you tipsy and applied to the skin it was an astonishingly attractive perfume, so attractive in fact that quite a number of Bristolian old maids made some quite unexpected marriages.

    Very little need be said of his cure for Venereal Disease, mainly because little is know about the details but so effective was its deterrent effects that many healthy young men became monks in enclosed orders rather than take the risk of ever needing it.

    Martin Silver (he did not have the 'Long John' of his illustrious forebear) died fairly young, possibly from exsanguination from over feeding his dearest leeches, and he was buried in St.Mary the Martyr(to piles) Churchyard, with his faithful parrot, who was heard complaining hoarsely even as they filled the grave.
    This latter detail was considered a little cruel, but only by those few who had not been bitten severely by the brute. And let us remember,it was a harsher age with simpler amusements.
     
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2015
  7. Messilane

    Messilane Well-Known Member

    Sigh . . . you never fail to make my day brighter. :)
     
    fidbald likes this.
  8. gregsglass

    gregsglass Well-Known Member

    Hi AF,
    Thank you, thank you. I was very remose this afternoon and you have me laughing so hard the tears are poring down. Remind me to tell you the story of ST Hilda the Agressor who helped found Our Lady of Trauma Hospital.
    greg
     
    spirit-of-shiloh and Messilane like this.
  9. Bev aka thelmasstuff

    Bev aka thelmasstuff Colored pencil artist extraordinaire ;)

    I feel I should collect AF's ramblings and publish a short monograph on the subject. ;)
     
  10. afantiques

    afantiques Well-Known Member

    They'd probably just be puzzling out of context. I did one on the coins board a couple of days ago (they are generally a dull lot) that would be pretty meaningless unless you knew the names of lots of types of money.

    It's the little incongruities or odd coincidences of words that set me off. I make up nonsense in real life too, but usually it is no more than internal monologue. It's good to let the nonsense leak when the spirit moves me. :-0
     
  11. Bev aka thelmasstuff

    Bev aka thelmasstuff Colored pencil artist extraordinaire ;)

    And we appreciate it. :)
     
  12. komokwa

    komokwa The Truth is out there...!

    Even if we don't understand it !!!! :smuggrin:
     
  13. Judee

    Judee New Member

    I have an almost complete set. It is Wilkens and the number is 800 on the back.
    It is very beautiful.
     
  14. ola402

    ola402 Well-Known Member

    As always happens, I found more of this pattern. It never fails that when I find something unique and different (for me, at least), then I find more! After that, I never find it again. This current group isn't the fancy pieces, like above, just some place forks and knives and some place/soup spoons. They are really pretty! Judee, you're fortunate to have a set of it.
     
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