Although I am somewhat obsessed about whether something is silver or plated, I am in fact not overly obsessed as are many other collectors of my acquaintance. I say this for two reasons: first, historically there has never been a wider gap between the price of a silver item and its equivalent in plated silver or Sheffield Plate. Which clearly means that there are some wonderful plated silver pieces available on the market more under rated and underpriced today than ever. And secondly, in my opinion, some things are better if not sterling silver, by which I mean more practical if SP instead of sterling simply because sterling silver is relatively soft.

The best example in my opinion of an item better in SP than sterling is that most English of implements, the Stilton cheese scoop. For the uninitiated, the cheese scoop is used to literally dig out from the centre of a whole round Stilton cheese the unique blue cheese, England's equivalent to the French Roquefort and Italy's Gorgonzola. How many sterling silver cheese scoops must have been buckled and bent under the arm of an impatient English gentleman desperate for his quota of Stilton to accompany his vintage Port?

As a lover of both Stilton and good Port, I consciously sought out the most elegant SP cheese scoop in could find, with a magnificently carved bulbous ivory handle as seen in the images.

My question is simply this: on the basis of the marks, who was the maker, and how old is it? I cannot answer either; but my guess as a date would be mid to late Victorian (see NOTE).

Incidentally, another typically English device, better if SP than sterling silver, is the lobster pick.
 

NOTE

The maker (or, more probably, the retailer) was Army & Navy Cooperative Society, late 19th/early20th century see my website at http://www.silvercollection.it/electroplatesilver.html
Giorgio Busetto