Dear C. J. Williams-- Well the bad news is that at best your spoons are no older than 1862 and may be quite recent, and they are silverplate rather than sterling. 1847 Rogers is/was a silverplate manufacturer. The company began in 1847 as Rogers Brothers in Hartford, CT. IN 1862, they joined Meriden Britannia Company and began using the trademark "1847 Rogers." They are now a division of Libbey Tableware. The trademark was still in use as late as the 1950s. My IMPRESSION is that the trademark is no longer used, but I am not sure. Here are some interesting online articles. http://www.libbey.com/Libbey/LibbeyTableware.nsf/About/AboutUs <A HREF="http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/lifestyles_columnists/article/0,1406,KNS_337_853129,00.html"> http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/lifestyles_columnists/article/0,1406,KNS_337_853129 ,00.html</A>. http://www.silverseason.com/1847girl.htm Google will give you a number of sites to look at if you put in "1847 Rogers." Some include pictures of the patterns, such as the following. <A HREF="http://www.nancysilver.com/patterns/finder/finder_sp_pat.htm">http://www.nancysilver.com/patterns/finder/finder_sp_pat.htm</A> This site gives the original issue date and current status. Regrettably, it does not list the date the pattern was discontinued. You might call or email one of the dealers or a local dealer and find out once you have identified your pattern. Identifying the pattern might help determine the age, as some patterns were only produced for a limited number of years. Be sure to ask your mother when and where she got them. http://shop.store.yahoo.com/silvercollecting/18rogbrossil.html This might be a good place to start some research. It lists reproductions of catalogs. The good news is that, if they have been passed down in the family, they are still a treasure! Anne