I wonder if anybody can help me to confirm the details on this item I recently acquired and clear up a couple of queries which I have. I think the hallmark is for 1878, the maker was J. M. Van Kempen and Son. I read that there should be a letter in the head of Minerva which would indicate the assay office - I can not work it out - maybe somebody could have a more educated guess from the pictures?
Are the Lids of the set contemporary to the piece? They carry a strange lozenge shaped mark which is also present on the silver top of the bottle. The bottles do fit snugly into the recesses of the tray... Is the style right for this period? The two crystal bottles are just topped by the lids with no stoppers in the crystal and also no ground-glass neck as I would expect to find if stoppers were missing is this ok?
Any further information, no matter how small, concerning the piece would be highly appreciated. Thanks for your time.
c. ;)
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