[Illustration: Illustration 55.--Left, fragment of long-tined fork.
Second-half (?), 17th century. One-half. (USNM 59.1663.)]
[Illustration: Illustration 56.--Center, fragment of long-tined fork.
Early 18th century. One-half. (USNM 59.2029.)]
[Illustration: Illustration 57.--Right, fork which had two-part handle
of wood, bone, or silver. One-half. (USNM 59.1939.)]
Mercer, as we have seen, had a lavish supply of plate. Little of this,
understandably, was likely to have been thrown away or lost, except for
an occasional piece of flatware. One such exception is a teaspoon from
the Structure B foundation (USNM 59.1827, fig. 86). It has a typical
early Georgian form--ribbed handle, elliptical bowl, and leaf-drop
handle attachment on back of the bowl. As in the case of small objects
worked after the marks were applied, this has evidence of two distorted
marks. Corrosion has obliterated such details as may have been visible
originally, although there are fairly clear indications of the leopard's
head crowned and lion passant found on London silver.
TABLE CUTLERY.--Fragmentary knives and forks from the site date mostly
from before 1750. Forks are all of the long, double-tine variety. One,
which may date back to the second half of the 17th century, has a
delicate shank, widening to a tooled, decorative band, with shaft
extending downward which was originally enclosed in a handle of horn,
bone, or wood (USNM 59.1663, ill. 55). A fragment of a narrow-bladed
knife (USNM 59.1882, fig. 85) may be of the same period as the fork. Two
forks, each with one long tine intact, show evidence of having had flat
cores for wood or silver handles (USNM 59.2029, 59.1939, ills. 56 and
57). The shanks, differing in length from each other, are turned in an
ogee shape. Three blades, varying in completeness, are of the curved
type used with "pistol-grip" handles (USNM 59.1667-1668, 59.1939). A
straight blade fragment (USNM 59.1999) is probably contemporary with
them. Only two knife fragments (USNM 59.1799 and 59.2082) appear to be
19th century (fig. 85).
One of the most unusual artifacts is a half section of a hollow
Sheffield-plated pistol-grip knife handle. Sheffield plate was
introduced in 1742 by a process that fused sheets of silver to sheets of
copper under heat and pressure.[212] The metal, as here, was sometimes
stamped (USNM 59.1668, fig. 86b).
[Illustration: Figure 86.--METALWORK: a, rim of pewter dish; b, table
knife with Sheffield-plated handle; c, lid of pewter teapot (ill. 60);
d, silver teaspoon; e, wavy-end pewter spoon, early 18th-century shape;
f and g, two trifid-end pewter spoons, late 17th-century shape (holes in
g were probably drilled to hold cord for suspension from neck).]