LNER Cutlery

I recently purchased the following items after an auction on ebay:



Clearly the markings are LNER, so they would date from the grouping period. But, just for fun, the exact date and use of these pieces of cutlery can be narrowed down much further. Does anybody here know why? No prizes!

I'm surprised there were no responses to this, but here goes with the answer...

In 1937 the LNER introduced the "Coronation" streamlined train. This was not only considered a high-speed train, but also a luxury one. The company issued special cutlery to be used on these services which were of a flat profile, in order that the didn't rattle on the dining tables.

The set illustrated above would have been used exclusively on the Coronation trains, (one in each direction each day) so is actually much rarer than a regular set of cutlery marked LNER. Also the trains ran only from 1937 to 1939 when war broke out, so there was a very limited window of opportunity for these items.

There is a very interesting website just HERE ( http://elegantsteam.com/lner_streamlined_trains.html )which gives loads of details of this and other trains from the heyday of the Big Four.

Enjoy!