www.925-1000.com

There is a national system of silver hallmarking in Morocco but it is very rare to find larger wares made from solid silver
By contrast, silver plated tea wares are still manufactured (especially in Fes) and extensively used in Morocco where mint tea is often served with pancakes and biscuits.

Wow how wonderful
I'm so grateful for your decisive and instant answer
thank you
MG

Hello
My guess is that it is Moroccan and silver plated
Thank you
MG

I wonder if anyone can identify this spoon.
It looks French to me but I'm not sure and I cannot identify the marks
I think it is what they call a fiddle and thread pattern spoon with no shoulders
It is 20cm long and quite heavy at 63g
There are 2 marks on the outside of the bowl
One looks like an M ...

I would agree that the decoration does look similar to that found on some German silver but I have also seen a similar type of decoration and pressed work on Turkish pieces (Ottoman and post Ottoman). I think if I had to guess one way or another I would tend to side with the view that it could be an ...

Hello
Its Persian silver. I would expect it to be approximately mid 20th century
The figures relate to ancient Persia
They resemble the figures carved in relief which can be seen on ancient buildings at Persepolis.
Thank you

Hello
Its Ottoman Turkish made in Van in eastern anatolia
The top mark of the two marks in the last photo is rubbed but probably says 'Van' in the arabic script.
Van seems to have been specialised in nielloed silver like this
I would expect it to be late 19th or early 20th century
The other mark ...

Hello
Its definitely Iranian (Persian).
I have seen a number of pieces with this style of very fine engraving (ie with the musicians and revelers).
Some have been unmarked, some have the makers marks in Farsi / Arabic and interestingly some pieces have had the makers name written in armenian. The ...

Hello
These aren't hallmarks as such but makers marks. I can't read arabic very well but these pieces are typical of silver plated wares that are still made, sold and used in Morocco where tea drinking etiquette is quite sophisticated. By the way mint tea is the national beverage.
thank you

I think it's Moroccan silver Plate
I can't read the arabic very well but the top two are probably the maker. The top mark says Muhammad. The second one down is probably the family name. The flower is perhaps the makers stamp and the bottom word I think says Fes, the city in Morocco where these sort ...

I think I would guess Turkish as well
The name Çakar is a Turkish family name so that was probably the maker
Turkish silver is most often 900 standard too
Also that style of decoration is similar to what I have seen on other Turkish silver
It would be post Ottoman (Republic era) because Ottoman ...

Hello
Its either Japanese or Korean
They both used this 'Jungin' (pure silver) mark
thank you

I'm not familiar with 'Egyptian silver' but would think its a trade name for silver plated cutlery
In England there was a company Daniel & Arter in Birmingham who marketed cutlery under a variety of similar trade names such as Brazilian Silver, Indian Silver, Japanese Silver etc.
I suspect that this ...

Hello
Its Iraqi solid silver probably from the 1930s.
As far as I know there is no published research into the subject of Iraqi silver or the silversmiths and their marks
However I understand that the best silversmiths were from the Mandean Christian minority and the centres of manufacture tended to ...

Thank you Kelly00 and sorry for the delay but its been a few days since I looked at the site
Its clearly Iranian (or Persian as they are more often described)
Its very high quality and I would expect it to be solid silver - likely to be 84% purity although only way to be really certain about silver ...

It looks as though it might be Iranian
A picture of the tray itself would confirm.
Only by scanning it or testing it could silver content be established with absolute confidence.
However, the quality of the engraved work would also give a good indication, possibly more than the marks
So I would ...

There is a book on Ottoman marks and I wish I had it but I don't and its expensive. However if you search on the internet for Ottoman silver maker marks and search for images, you can see a page from this book with some makers arranged by geographical location and by chance, this mark is one of them ...

Hello
The top stamped mark consists of the arabic letters for VAN which is a city in the far east of Turkey and many nielloed items originated from there. Ottoman Turkey used the arabic Alphabet
I can't read the bottom mark.
Thank you

Hello
It's typical Moroccan silver plate made in Fes
Tea drinking etiquette in Morocco is sophisticated and many families even of modest means will have fairly ostentatious silver plated tea wares like this. Not to show off but to show kind respect to guests. That's why even today they are being ...

thats interesting
I just found a very similar mark for R Sharpley of Montreal, Canada
Although of course my spoon has the letters SR rather than RS.
Also the lion mark. duty head and 'R' font are different
However it does have a similar feel
http://i1335.photobucket.com/albums/w661/Mehdig ...