Elizabeth Cooke or Ebenezer Coker – A pair of early George III antique sterling silver waiters, London 1765 Each of shaped undulating gadroon and shell border, upon three paw feet, each with a crest to the centre of crowned lions head erased to sinister flanked by ostrich plumes, marked underneath.   Diameter – 17.5 cm / 6.9 inches Weight – 488 grams / 15.69 ozt The mark of a Roman EC with a pellet between is one of some debate on the topic of attribution. Elizabeth Cooke of Foster Lane (Grimwade p.470) registered her mark on January 24 1764, after the death of her husband Samuel Cooke (not Thomas Cooke II). Ebenezer Coker registered his first mark in March 1738 a Roman EC without pellet, another mark in cursive script was registered in June 1739 and again in May 1745. The E.C mark has been noted on candlesticks and waiters prior to 1763, Cooke’s first mark being registered during the use of the 1763 date letter. A salver with a near identical border and the E.C makers mark was offered in these rooms, then attributed to Coker, on 20/9/16 Lot 96. Phillipa Glanvillle writes of the 1767 waiter with this mark in the collection of The National Museum of Women in the Arts as by Elizabeth Cooke, Women Silversmiths 1685 – 1845 page 34 and 164. Elizabeth Cooke was known to be alive on 23rd September 1773 mentioned as the main beneficiary of the will of Edward Cooke, her brother in law.