c. 1780 Ephraim Brasher COIN SILVER SERVING SPOON

Colonial America
Double "EB" Hallmarked Ephraim Brasher Tablespoon
c. 1780 Colonial Era, large 9" long, Coin Silver Serving Spoon, Hand Engraved and Double Hallmarked "EB" by Ephraim Brasher a prominent New York City Gold and Silversmith, Extremely Fine.
Large 9" long Coin Silver Table or Serving Spoon which has ornate Silversmith Hand-Engraved Initials of the original owner at top of the spoon handle and two very clear "EB" hallmarks stamped on the bottom side of the handle. Ephraim Brasher is listed in "The Book of Old Silver" by Seymour Wyler, as producing silverware out of New York City from 1766. This "EB" style hallmark punch being the most recognized of Brasher amongst numismatists and Colonial American Silver collectors.
Brasher was a prominent New York City gold and silversmith. In 1787 he appears to have joined with the New York silversmith and noted swordmaker, John Bailey, in requesting a franchise to produce copper coins for the State of New York. The legislative record for February 12, 1787 stated, "the several petitions" of Brasher and Bailey were filed with the state. Because of the ambiguous wording it is not known if the petitions were joint ventures or simply individual petitions that just happened to have been submitted on the same day.
Their petitions, along with the petition of their competitors, were denied a few months later when the state decided to refrain from the minting of coppers (see the Machin's Patterns section for additional details). Soon after the unfavorable judgment Ephraim Brasher turned his attention from coppers back to designing and minting a few pattern gold doubloons. Apparently he had been working on a Lima style gold piece the preceding year.
Ephraim Brasher was often asked to weigh and verify the authenticity of foreign gold coins for customers. Several examples of foreign gold have been discovered counterstamped with the initials EB in an oval (examples can be found in the Roper auction catalog). Apparently his stamp on a coin was taken as proof the item was of the proper weight and fineness. Breen discovered that Brasher's address in 1789-1790 was listed as number five Cherry Street in New York City, which was next door to George Washington's residence. It has been reported that in Washington's now lost household accounts there was an entry under April 17, 1790 stating Washington purchased four silver skewers from Brasher for 8 8s6d in New York currency.
Brasher also had a substantial reputation as an assayer. In November of 1792 with the assistance of David Ott he assayed several varieties of gold coins for the new Federal government. Thereafter Brasher assisted assaying gold for the U.S. Mint.