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Hi Marcondes and dognose,

Thanks a lot Marcondes for this final identification!

Thanks also Dognose and other admins for this website: this identification, almost 7 years after my initial post, appears to me as a great example of its immense value!

Dinio

Hi Oel,
No problem showing only the marks. I understand very well and it makes sense focusing on each characteristics one at a time when analysing a piece. I'll have a look at your pictures.
Regards,
Dinio

Hi, Answers to your questions can be found in the 'World Marks/French Hallmarks' section of the main menu of 925-1000.com (on top of this page). On the next page, click on 'French Maker's Marks' and then on letter 'L'. http://www.925-1000.com/Ffrench_makers_L.html" onclick="window.open(thi...

Hi oel, Very interesting pieces indeed! I agree with the dating of the statues to the beginning of 20C, mainly because of the fashion of chryselephantine in these years, and Hanau could be a good guess. Looking at their style, seeing the english import marks at first glance, I would also say that th...

Hi oel, This could be 18C or older, from Salins 'généralité' in the French coinage jurisdiction of Besancon. In 1785, there was 31 coinage jurisdictions in France and marking rules was specific to each of them. While most of them had to apply marking duties (represented by the 'charge' and 'disch...

Lapar

Hi Top Cat, Difficult to find which maker only with the Maltese cross clue. And the picture is a bit fuzzy. Could you make out the initials? Looking at your spoon I am a bit surprised: is the Minerva's head located on the left and the lozenge mark on the right? This would be highly unusual as it wou...

Hi Groninberg,

The mark on the right looks pretty much like the maker's mark of Wolf & Knell (see ref given by dognose abose).
Regards,
Dinio

Thanks Theoderich for pointing me in the right direction. I went the wrong way because the second mark for Liegnitz in http://www.925-1000.com/Fgerman_marks_b1884_3.html is almost exactly the crossed keys mark on the box. Looking now in more details at the Hanau marks page ( http://www.925-1000.com/...

Hi, This is a small silver box whose length is 58 mm and weight 65 g, with a cast lid showing a man with two geese in his arms and a gilt interior. Here are two pictures : http://dinio.free.fr/Silver/LiegnitzBox/Top.JPG http://dinio.free.fr/Silver/LiegnitzBox/Side.JPG There are two hallmarks located...

Hi, The mark on the left is not Dutch but French. It a boar's head, like the Dutch import mark you are reffering, but its outline is sligthly different. It is the French guarantee mark for 800 silver (see http://www.925-1000.com/Ffrench_marks.html , column on the right) As for the makers mark, it is...

Hi,

According to Tardy, p100, the elliptic mark seems to be the Danish Aalborg town hallmark in use around 1800.

Regards,
Dinio

Hi Miles, Why do you think this box could be Dutch? For me, the symbol contained into the middle mark (four diagonal crossing lines over an horizontal line) looks very similar to the symbol found into the mark used for Sheffield assay office in 1904-1906 (four diagonal crossing arrows over an horizo...

Hi, I have a small spoon in very simple shape which is 13.5 cm long and weighs 4 grams. Here is a picture of both sides of this spoon : http://dinio.free.fr/Silver/SmallSpoon/Spoon.JPG It bears 3 marks on the back of the handle, and has no other distinctive decoration or signs. Here are the marks : ...

Thanks Theoderich! I looked at your list of Iena silversmiths (I needed a Google translation to understand most of it) but it does not ring a bell for me. As I said in my initial post, I am pretty sure that the 13 mark and the lion mark have been punched with the same strength, whereas the grape is ...

Hi,

According to Tardy p328, letter G in a square with cut corners has been used between 1866 and 1919 in the city of Gmünden, Poland, during the austro-hungarian period.

Hope this helps.
Dinio

Hi, I recently bought two molded then repousse bowls representing mythological scenes, and I guess they are German in origin but I did not find any suitable correspondance of the marks, neither in my (too general) documentation nor in this website. Here are the bowls: http://dinio.free.fr/Silver/Bow...

Hi,

I just realized that my answer is a bit misleading. "Bigornes" have been in use since July 1818 in France, but they was different than the ones used from 1836. I described only the latter because the grasshopper was present only on these "bigornes".

Hope this helps.
Dinio

Hi, It is a beautiful purse, certainly of French origin because the insect mark looks like the countermark left by the "bigorne", the anvil used in the french assay offices to strike the official marks since May 1836 (not 18C, sorry). Each "bigorne" has 2 striking areas, one flat...

Hi, I must say that I am doubtful about the origin of this tea caddy. Firstly in France, since the 14C, the makers mark alone is not a guarantee of the silver content. Before entering the market every item must be punched by the assay office which is the only body entitled to provide such a guarante...