Featured Sterling Sugar Tongs ID Help Please

I got these sugar tongs and am having trouble IDing them. I searched Replacements and eboo and was able to ID some other pieces, but not these tongs.

They measure 4" long. There is the date of 1902 engraved on the handle.

The shot of the mark was the best I could get with a USB microscope. It looks like the word Sterling was struck more than once. I can't make anything out of the symbol, I looked at American makes marks on 925 but didn't see it.

Thank you for any help you can give me

 

Looks like Towle 1893 Canterbury maybe. Can't see the pattern that well.

 

Towle - 'Canterbury' pattern, introduced in 1893.

~Cheryl

 

OMG! Thank you both so much!!!!

 

Quick question if I may...does it REALLY make that much difference knowing the pattern name ?

 

It does if I want to sell it on eboo. Someone looking for a particular pattern is unlikely to find it if I don't know the pattern.

That said, this is an image of Canterbury sugar tongs from Replacements and it looks similar but not the same

 

For someone looking to match pieces to their set by text search it does

That replacements one is one of the 'created' from other pieces ones

 

They made the same mistake with the "Bonbon Tongs."

 

So mine is still Canterbury?

What does “created from other pieces” mean? I haven’t dealt much with silver.

BTW, I just did an eboo search for “silver sugar tongs” and got over 5,000 results

 

When they have demand for pieces not in stock and difficult to find, they offer "made in house" pieces that use the handle of another piece (in the same pattern that made be damaged at the business end.) They also offer this kind of service to create a piece that modern folks want that did not exist in the original production.

 

It's a right facing lion.........but I don't know the design it's inside of....image is inverted.....or at least that's what I see....

 

Thank you Bakersgma, that makes sense

Thank you Aquitaine, I would never have seen that!

 

That's the Towle mark, no question - rampant lion, right-facing, inside a script T.

 

Most welcome!

 

I get the matching a pattern concept,but I just wonder if there are that many people out there still trying to build a set.Most everyone I know that does buy silver sadly only wants it for scrap. And as weve talked about,young people just arent that interested in that sort of entertaining. I guess I was basically wondering how big a market there is for matching a piece.

 

Whether the market is big or not, my chances of selling only increases by naming the pattern.

Selling at shows and fleas over the last 12 or so years I notice people sometimes buy what they remember from their parents or grandparents. Someone may remember the pattern from their family and would like to have it for that reason, not necessarily to complete a set.

I also do not list silver at prices that make it attractive for scrappers, I only list nice, usable or collectable pieces. Any damaged or uninteresting pieces that are only good for scrap I sell to my local scrapper.

 

If no one wanted to buy good identified silver (or china or crystal) Replacements would be out of business fast.

 

However they were put together, the grabbers on Marie's look particularly efficient.

As in, "GOTCHA!!!"

 

I am glad I read all this. So much to learn here.

 

Wonder if one is ice tongs and the other is sugar tongs? Used the same 'base'.
Patd