A Rare Australian Silver Cheese Scoop by Hammertons of Geelong, ca. 1880

Description This fine and rare Australian silver Stilton cheese scoop consists of three sections. A slender shaft, which terminates in a curved spade and lozenge-shaped reinforcing plate, is joined by a silver collar to a turned wooden handle, capped with a bell-shaped, silver ferrule. The collar and base of the ferrule are decorated with a simple band of repeating lines and dots while the upper rim of the ferrule carries a frieze with a repeating pattern reminiscent of a crescent and fleur-de-lis. Maker’s Mark The maker’s marks, ‘HAMMERTON’ in a rectangular punch, followed by ‘STG.SILVER’ also in a rectangular punch, are consistent with Hammertons of Geelong, Australia. Dimensions & Weights Length overall: 20.7 cm / 8 1/8 ins Weight: 83 gms Hammertons of Geelong The images and advertisement from the early 1900s below show the shop front of J Hammerton & Son, Jeweller, Watchmaker and Optician, in Little Ryrie Street, Geelong, Australia. Hammertons Jewellers is Australia’s only 5th generation jewellery business, first opening it’s doors in Geelong, a coastal town southwest from Melbourne, in 1879, from where John Hammerton plied his trade as a silversmith, engraver & jeweller, producing much of the city’s fine jewellery. In 1916 John’s son opened a business in Mildura, the regional city on the Murray River in Victoria’s northwest, where business continues to this day.