Found this yesterday on Thames foreshore, what is it ?

[ianr]

> Lila's (Jeweller on LL) kindly confirmed it's pewter.

I'd already decided it wasn't pewter, as I thought it looked too coppery, so I might as well go for broke. My six pennorth, as a qualified numpty, is on late C19th or early C20th, maybe an early repro (of which there were later plenty around, even up to the 1960s). I'm still somehow against pewter. I see that the markings at http://www.pewterbank.com seem generally impressed rather than cast in relief. The maker's mark here reminds me of an Arts & Crafts font and decorations. See for example the W in http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0BgBreCHyQw/T9HaJtimvjI/AAAAAAAAAIM/VlsOB5YLAe4/s1600/William+Morris,+Golden+typeface,+1888+%E2%80%91+90.png. It's also in some of our computer fonts, such as Goudy Old Style and Garamond. The ear/handle's a bit crude, but aspiring to decorativeness. So, it's probably an apprentice piece, ceremonially tossed into the Thames at the end of a drunken Saturday night graduation celebration.