U.S.A. Mark on repousse chalice. ID help requested.

[Cynnamon]

Greetings:

I'd appreciate your time to look at the mark on what is likely a silverplate chalice/goblet. The legible mark is U.S.A., in addition to a numerical type mark that appears to be "88". Do you know the manufacturer?

Thank you for your help, Cynthia

[Aguest]

::: I have an obliterated hallmark on a coin-silver fork & it might help to take a picture of the obliterated mark because it might be possible to read the word underneath the obliteration (I was able to read the words beneath my obliterated hallmark), because of the purple-blue tarnish pattern, I do get more of a "silver plate" feeling rather than a "coin silver" feeling, but that isn't 100% accurate. ::::::

:::: The only "U.S.A." hallmark I can remember seeing is "Georg Jensen U.S.A." (with a pattern number too) but I don't see how this cup could be related to that company. ::::::::

[Cynnamon]

Thank you for the suggestion. For what's it's worth, here's the obscured mark:

[Aguest]

:::: The zig-zag line looks more like a “Tremolierstrich” rather than an obliterated hallmark. ::::

:::: What that is doing on a presumably silver-plated goblet I have no idea, that doesn't make sense to me. :::::

:::::::: Has this object been "re-branded" with the "U.S.A." stamp? Is this a much older silver cup that someone has made an effort to "re-brand" with the "U.S.A." stamp? :::::

("It is called “Kupellenprobe”, the zigzag-line is most often called “Tremolierstrich”. “Tremolieren” is an oldfashioned German word for “shaking” - it looks like the person did it with a shaking hand. Sometimes one can also find the version “Tremulierstich” - “stich” referring to the fact, that silver was actually cut out of the object (“ausgestochen”). That the cut was not done in a straigt line had a reason. The technique of melting silver back then was not highly developed. The fineness of a silver piece was simply not that homogenous as it would be today. If one would cut out silver from a piece in three different places and checked the fineness, it was likely that one got three different results. In one or two places the fineness would be too low, in another place it could be much higher, but the the average of all three samples would be correct. By zigzagging one was likely to cut through the portions with the lower and higher fineness and would thus achieve a good average result, which would be close enough to the actual fineness.") -Bahmer

[Cynnamon]

Thank you for looking into the mystery mark. I have no provenance on the piece, it's just something I picked up in a shop because it looked interesting.

[Aguest]

:::: Even though it does seem to be silver plated, it would be useful to have it tested for silver content just in case it is an older object whose hallmarks have been obscured with the "88" hallmark with a "U.S.A." hallmark stamped just to further confuse the history. :::::::

:::: (there are pictures of the U.S.A. 88th infantry division guarding looted Nazi art treasures, which might not be relevant to this object, but it did pop up during my attempts to investigate this object). ::::::::

[Cynnamon]

:::: (there are pictures of the U.S.A. 88th infantry division guarding looted Nazi art treasures, which might not be relevant to this object, but it did pop up during my attempts to investigate this object). ::::::::

Oh my!

[Aguest]

" Pfc. Louis A. Cilibinli, 337th F.A. Bn., 88th Div., stands guard in one of the rooms used to store several million dollars worth of art treasures stolen by the Nazis and found by men of the 88th Div."

::::: I can't recall ever seeing "U.S.A." on a piece of silver plate, that "88" looks a little bit crude (to my eyes at least), and the zig-zag mark is something I have never seen before on silver-plate (did someone try to assay this cup using the "old method" of assay that was more common in the 18th century?) so I guess the only thing to do is to have it professionally tested, just to be sure, even though it really does look like silver-plate, there are rare exceptions when the owner was convinced an object was made of silver-plate and it turned out to be around 80% solid silver (800 silver) or some purity level a bit lower. ::::::

[Traintime]

The word that’s been wiped out is probably Silversmiths in script. Oneida is one that comes to mind using that word following their name. But there could be others. 88 could be 38 if there’s been any staggering or double stamping. I would suspect a cataloging item number.

[Cynnamon]

Thanks again for your thoughts. I was going to do an acid streak test to see if there's any silver in the metal. The piece does rub on the stone like a softer metal. Unfortunately, my silver acid must be expired, nothing came up even with my known sterling silver testing piece. I've ordered a new acid test kit.

[Aguest]

::::: I've seen this happen with an old acid testing kit & we scraped genuine sterling silver objects and nothing came up. :::::

::::: We assume the acid had "expired" or was affected by fluctuating temperatures in the garage & you will find a lot of opinions about how unreliable the acid test can be, but the fact remains that the test is still performed daily by thousands of gold/silver buyer/sellers :::::::::::::::

[Aguest]

::::::: I do see the stamp "U.S.A." on silver-plated goblets by Oneida Silversmiths now thanks to Traintime could be on the right track :::::::::
::::::: I simply could not remember seeing "U.S.A." on any piece other than Georg Jensen U.S.A. but now I have more information. :::::::::::

[Cynnamon]

Excellent, so many thoughtful participants, thanks to all.

[Cynnamon]

Update:

New acid test, confirms opinion only silverplate. Also notived a "brassy" color when looking from bottom into stem. I was wondering why there is engraved numbers on the bottom. I usually see that only on expensive, insured pieces.

Thanks again, Cynthia

[Cynnamon]