Well, those ebay links worked in preview, but we'll try it this way:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/?_nkw=silver%20macaroni%20servers&clk_rvr_id=329565602954

http://www.ebay.com/sch/?_nkw=silver%20fish%20servers&clk_rvr_id=329556567646

Macaroni Knife or Server was the name used at the time the piece was made. There was also a Fried Oyster Server made with the same shape. Mainly, the only difference is what the manufacturer wanted to call it & without a catalog, we may never know the 'true' purpose.

When I see the term 'pasta server', I automatically think of a newly made up piece but the ebay seller in this case is a name I recognize as reputable.

OK....I am ever aware of all the "hand crafted" items on ebay...someone seems to be very handy with the tin snips!
Pretty well all of those listed on the eBay link are mocked up out of something else!! Especially stuff on Replacements.com.

I looked through the 60-or-so macaroni servers in the ebay link, and couldn't see anything obvious. LindaC, are there any examples, there, that jump out at you? Can you list some telltale signs that a piece is a mock-up, or has been 'snipped'? Is it done only with sterling, because of the value, or are silverplate pieces faked, too? Thanks.

It's late and I 'm tired, but the thing that jumped outa t me was all the examples of Whiting Louis XV macaroni servers....suddenly. I have collected that pattern for about 40 years and never ever seen one before.....and suddenly there are 5 on the same page??
Then when you look more closely you begin to see how a berry spoon was adapted.....
Not all are fake surely, but until I hold it in my hands, I am wary.
Another telling factor was the offering of the Towle Old Colonial macaroni server....for somewhere more than $2,000. Suddenly they are too common for comfort!
And a really old one is priced so.

Many times when a spoon is snipped, the tines wind up being very short & stubby; I noticed a few of those on the ebay list. When you see a bunch of different patterns - but all with identical cutouts on the blades (usually like the above drawing or another that's often seen on R&B pieces)- keep on looking. Occasionally, you might see one with an old sterling handle attached to a stainless steel business end - run, don't walk, away. Some of the monstosities are made at the factory & the silver is blindingly shiney with little depth to the detail. In the description of the above drawing, 'HC' means hand-crafted & is Replacements term for a madeup piece. Other replacement services uses similar terms of endearment.

Something like a macaroni server was always a specialty piece & priced accordingly & I seriously doubt if they were made past 1920. Many had a goldwash and/or fine piercing on the blade - neither of which you'll find on the repro's because it requires talent & is too expensive to replicate. The spectacular ones with the fanned tines usually bring the highest prices - Durgin's patterns come to mind - & I've never seen one of them duplicated. Gorham's tended to be plainer but very well executed with a gold wash. I have one of these in Imperial Chrysanthemum but it looks drab in comparison to one shown in Silver Mag that was custom ordered back in the day.

Hey I have a sterling handle stainless blade pie server and I'm almost sure it is supposed to be that way! Of course it's from the very sensible 1960s.

SOme of those pasta servers seem like deadly weapons.

My "wedding silver" has several utensils with sterling handle and stainless business end. Pie server, steak set, cheese knife.....and now there are all sorts of things available with a stainless working end and sterling handle....everything from salad servers to punch ladle, pasta server, wine opener, ice scoop....all with a generic stainless business on a knife handle.
I have a few pieces of "old silver" that have silver plated working ends on a sterling handle...one a pastry server, and another is a cheese scoop and tomato server on a pearl handle with a sterling ferule.

I have an old piece that I think is a fish slice....no idea what it is, no markings at all.
I'll try to take a couple of pictures and post them.

The more good old stuff you look at the easier it is to know when something's not right.
Linda C

I should clarify since my remark came across as offensive. Stainless findings attached to sterling handles became a good portion of the norm after WWII. They were quality pieces made that way by the leading silver makers & I wasn't trying to dis them. But within the past 20 years or so since Victorian silver has regained popularity (coinciding with the closing or moving of most of the American silver industry), all types of 'rare' pieces are popping up for the unsuspecting. Some with a one-size-fits-all, generic finding.

It's my understanding that stainless wasn't used for knife blades until the 1920's & plated blades continued in use for many years. Therefore, if you find a supposedly rare, turn-of-the-century utensil with a stainless end, it probably isn't period, knives being the exception because the blades were meant to be replaced. If you like it, that's well & good but the piece isn't 100+ years old.

Thank you all for the information. I looked at some of the berry/casserole spoons that matched the macaroni servers--I can see how one could be re-worked to become the other. Does a spoon that has been altered then loose its value as a collectible, because it's altered (providing no unsuspecting buyer comes along to pay $$$), or does it retain the original value?

I doubt that I'll be collecting sterling, but there's always a chance that I'll find a treasure somewhere.

I would never knowingly buy a "HC" piece. I havet wcie been duped....and was really disappointed at myself to be so stupid. Both times it was on eBay and a gift for my daughter in her Towle Old Colonial. One was a butter pick....which on closer examination proved to be a tea spoon, likely one that had gone down the disposer, trimmed and twisted into a point.
The other was a "stilton scoop"....this time a place spoon, carved out and turned up on the edges...
Dummy me! But I have learned to look closely!

It was the final minutes of an ebay auction for a set of Frontenac ramekin forks when I did a search for ALL ramekin forks. It turned up at least 15 patterns that all had the same pierced bowl - & exceptionally good piercing/design it was! If I'd seen those forks at a show or shop with nothing to compare, that $200 would have been gone.

And YES, Mamagoose, they do lose their antique value once they've been altered, although you wouldn't know it by the asking prices of the pieces at the replacement services.

O dear no I wasn't offended! I've seen the ones you're talking about and they are awful!

I'm just surprised that there is a market for some of those "handcrafted" items.

Antiquesilver, I looked up sterling ramekin forks currently listed on ebay, and noticed those by several different makers (Gorham, Reed&Barton, Towle) that all had the same piercing pattern. And there are quite a few that are shaped like 'sporks'--more examples of re-tooled spoons?

And if they don't sell, chances are they'll be listed next week as ice cream forks. Offhand, I'd say there are a great many more ramekin forks on the market than were ever made 100 years ago! 10 years ago, they were seldom seen on ebay & they don't even show up in some of the old catalogs that I have. Now, they're available by the dozen. Like magic!

Oh and baked potato forks.....another item that has been salvaged from the disposer....
I have somewhere in this house a pair of old deep saucers that have been "adapted" to be candle holders....with a hole drilled and fitted with a brass candle holder and I think a finger hold. I bought them because they came with 8 cups and saucers....smaller newer cups. Think they are Copeland Spode. Now I have to go on a search......

Yes! Seriously, who wakes up and says "Hey! I need a baked potato fork!"?

I did wake up once and say "Hey! I need a long handled slotted olive spoon!"

Ummmm now I have two. Are they mangled iced tea spoons? Now I'm worried!!!

There are plenty of original long handled olive spoons out there. In fact, I don't remember ever seeing any jerri-rigged olive spoons so you're probably safe.

I started collecting silver after falling in love with an olive spoon with magnificent piercing; alas it was short handled. Hmmmm, I don't think I have a long handled one.....