Silver plate ? And origin ?

[gentianblue]

Hello,
In the absence of a silver fineness hallmark, I am assuming this is either silver plate or ´german´nickel silver.

It is from a set of cutlery that I know came from the family seat of a German nobleman whose estate is near Vyborg, formerly in Finnish Carelia, but annexed by Russia in 1941. This person had connections with Russia, he was private secretary to Empress Catherine III, and then tutor to her son , the future Czar Paul I.

If it is indeed silver plate, i am perplexed to find it amongst other silver from the same estate made by Paris silversmith Francois Dominiqne Naudin, 950 standard solid silver.

Most of the silver from this estate seems to have been sourced in St. Petersburg, or in Paris, and of the finest quality.

Could the V symbol with what I think is an artichoke on top be the symbol of Viborg/Vyborg , or some other place ? AW would logically be the initials of the maker, or not ? Could this be silver rather than Nickel or plate ?

i apologise if the second image of the whole fork appears, as it does not seem to appear on my preview of embedded images.

Many thanks, and I hope you can shed some light on this conundrum.





(admin photo edit)

[Sasropakis]

You probably mean von Nicolay family whose coat of arms can be seen on the fork. They owned the famous Monrepos manor near Vyborg (Viipuri in Finnish). I don't think the fork is silverplate but silver. The mark could be that of Augsburg but I'm not that familiar with German hallmarks. The town mark of Vyborg was W and never V (the German name of the town was Wiburg and it's often spelled Wiipuri in Finnish).

[AG2012]

Hi,
Looks like Augsburg letter V for 1771-1773 and AW for Abraham Winkler.
His forks are well documented but the problem is his year of death being 1768.
Example of Augsburg 1771- 1773.


Example of A.Winkler mark (on mid 18th century silver).



Regards

[AG2012]

Can you test it for silver fineness ? It should be 13 loth or 812,5.

[gentianblue]

Hi,
Yes, the estate in question is MonRepos which Ludwig Heinrich von Nicolay acquired in 1794. Thank you for the positive ID of the coat of arms for von Nicolay, that has allayed any doubts I had. Paul v. N. , L. v N´s son was the last male of the Nicolay family, and the estate than passed to the family of Count von der Pahlen through descendency.

Augsburg definitely seems to be its origin. I could not find any image on the internet of the Augsburg V such as the one you provided. The date 1771-1773 would suggest that Ludwig Nicolay purchased this cutlery in his early working life. Later cutlery that I am cataloguing from Paris made by Naudin dates from 1820 onwards could have been bought by Ludwig on his deathbed but more likely ordered by his heir Paul. The coat of arms on this set is the same except with the addition of the motto scrolled SUSTINE ET ABSTINE.

As for silver fineness, does anyone one know what convention existed, if any, around 1750-1800 in Bavaria for marking silver content? I would not know how to test for this. I have a large serving spoon from the same set that has a brownish tinge inside unlike usual silver patina. Perhaps I will post an image of this.

Thanks again for such prompt replies and useful information to allow me to catalogue these items for the v. der Pahlen family.

[Theoderich]

Hi,
Looks like Augsburg letter V for 1771-1773 and AW for Abraham Winkler.

in the book of GNM it is #2338 i)
Abrahm Warnberger IV
son of Abrahm Warnberger III
*1716 M1741 +1793

[gentianblue]

Thank you Theoderich, sorry I forgot to do so before. Yes, the likeness Abrahm Warnbergers Mark seems spot on.