A late 17th century / early 18th century Channel Islands silver spoon, Jersey circa 1700 by Robert Barbedor

Oval bowl with rat tail heel, the flat stem with trefid pattern terminal, the front engraved with contemporaneous initials MAL in roman script, the reverse with late 18th century initials ER in cursive script. Marked with an ornate A, a crown, and makers mark RB with a fleur-de-lis above crowned.

Length – 17.7 cm / 7 inches

Weight – 50 grams / 1.61 ozt

Collection of Anthony Aston Smith (1929-2010), bought Christie’s London Feb 25th 1959 (£8 part-lot), described in journal as “Channel Islands, early XVIIIth century [drawings of marks], unrecorded by Jackson”

Robert Barbebor snr, who died in July 1680, had a son also called Robert who moved to Jersey and Guernsey possibly before his father’s death, where he is seen as using his father’s mark, still working in 1704.