This is a fairly ordinary pair of "Old English" style sugar tongs. What is of particular interest is that the maker's mark has been struck in the bowl and the hallmark to the top of the arm. One normally sees both the hallmark and maker's marks either in the bowls or the arms, but not split like this. When one sees marks struck in the bowls they would normally be dated prior to 1791 (when the first date letter was used on sugar tongs). It would be quite difficult to strike duty mark, lion passant AND date letter in a bowl. For this reason after 29th May 1791 makers would normally strike their marks to the inside tops of the arms and the assay office strike the hallmark on the opposite arm. I find it odd that 6 years after this had become the norm Abraham Peterson chose to strike his mark in the bowl. Bear in mind that the maker's mark is struck BEFORE the assay office strike the hallmarks.

The tongs are dated between 6th July 1797 and 28th May 1798. This can be determined because of the triple cusp duty mark, representing the increase in duty on 29th May 1797.