Beautiful Fork but cannot identify markings

dmac1969 · Post by **dmac1969** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 7:46 am

dmac1969"]I have several pieces of this flatware and was told that it is silver and most likely French. I tried to find the markings myself but I did not find anything that looked like this E. I also have a spoon which has the markings inside the bowl - some of them identical to this fork but a different makers name. Thanks in advance for your help.

Post by **dragonflywink** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:28 am

Check Poland: http://www.925-1000.com/foreign_marks.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

~Cheryl

dmac1969 · Post by **dmac1969** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 12:02 pm

Now that I know it is from Poland can you tell me where I might go about finding out who the maker is? Just a link to go to would be so helpful. Thanks in advance.

fatso · Post by **fatso** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 6:28 pm

Hi, I have two dozen pieces of polish flatware and have given one a close inspection. First of all, your hallmarks are historical as the new patterns are in force as from 8.05. 2004 and can be downloaded as pdf file from there:
http://www.gum.gov.pl/en/site/adm_probiercza/images" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Secondly, silver hallmarks are all based on the head of a lady in kerchief. Mine looks to the right and has a figure 3 in front of her eyes- that denotes purity of .800 Ag; pay close attention to the letter behind the head as that denotes the town of the assay. In my case that is W for Warsaw, yours visualised poorly. I know for a fact that my flatware comes from nationalised by the communists factory called Hefra and have a sign FH connected together, in a circle, for Fabryka Hefra. Finally, the number 800 does confirm degree of purity of my flatware.
Your lady does look to the left and I can only presume at this stage that the silver pieces are pre-2nd World war. I hope it helps

terrdave · Post by **terrdave** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 12:47 am

Hi, regarding Poland’s silver standards and marks per Tardy and another source:
From ~1920 — 1962: Silver fineness: 1 = .940, 2 = .875, and 3 = .800; the woman’s head with kerchief faced to the left, with the silver fineness to the left of the head, and the assay office to the right of the head.

In March 1963, the standards for silver fineness and marks were changed: 1 = .916, 2 = .875, 3 = .800, and 4 = .750; the head faced to the right, with the silver fineness to the right of the head, and the assay office to the left of the head.

In 1986 to present, the standards and marks changed again. They can be found at the pdf file you reference above. Sorry, I can not identify the maker of your pieces.

Assay offices - There are currently ten assay offices in Poland. A single letter is used to represent each office:
A - Bialystok B - Bydgoszcz G - Gdansk H - ChorzÃ³w K - Krakow L - LÃ³dz P - Poznan V - Wrochaw W - Warsaw Z — Czestochowa

Best wishes, TD

fatso · Post by **fatso** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 1:41 am

Just an afterthought: it would make sense to become acquainted
with the hallmarks of Poland nowadays as that country does constitute
biggest producer of silver in Europe at the moment. Inevitably, significant
portion of that precious metal is bound to reach the market via services
of polish artisans and silversmiths thus adding to the allure of that mysterious
lady in a folksy kerchief on her head.