Confirm as pre-1820 Hamburg?

codaphins · Post by **codaphins** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 5:35 pm

I have a set of these forks. The handles are absolutely (13 mark) silver but the tines are some other material (which polishes but is darker than the handles), obviously hand-forged, and no 2 are alike. They're extremely heavy with sharp hand-cut tines.

Some bear a monogram, but the engraving style and placement differs on each one, so I suppose it was a set that was commissioned or purchased over time.

Photographing the marks was very difficult. Here is a pic of the forks:

Some of the forks have a very clear AH in block capitals with serifs inside a rectangle, which leads me to believe they're by Johann Andreas Holbeling (1791-1898 Hamburg). There is no concession mark, but there is the number 13 in a rectangle.

Some of the forks have illegible 2 letter stamps that may or may not say AH as well, but they do not include a 13 mark, thet have some something inside a clearly cinquefoil shape like this:

The shape could conceivably be a profile, but it's too difficult to tell.

I hope I gave enough info here, and sorry I couldn't get clear pictures of the marks (I will try again though). Maybe the style and mixed composition of the forks can help dating these items.

I was originally researching these as Dutch, so I was happy to find the AH mark, but at this point I'm stumped by the combination of marks and the unusual design.

Thank you in advance for your help!

Post by **admin** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 5:45 pm

Hi,
It's been mentioned before, but bears repeating: as there are only twenty six letters in the latin alphabet, two letter makers' marks are repeated dozens (if not hundreds) of times over dozens of countries. This leaves finding the country of origin by a maker's mark a usually fruitless search. It is always better to search for the origins of a piece by almost any other mark on it. The lobed mark hints that you should have a look at Austria, try here and let us know if it is a match.
http://www.925-1000.com/Faustria_02.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Regards, Tom

codaphins · Post by **codaphins** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 5:52 pm

Understood, and thanks for the link. It's not easy to find straight answers with exhaustive web searches, so I'm glad I joined here.

I'm off to research more, but can you please tell me when the 13 mark was common in Austria-Hungary, or direct me to a resource? That would help me nail down the date and the maker, and research if this style of fork fits with that.

Thanks again for the prompt reply.

codaphins · Post by **codaphins** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 12:04 pm

I dug out the rest of the forks (I have 8) and found one that confirmed everything. It's a little hard to see but the circle has an A at the top for Vienna, and the date is 1867. That along with the Diana's head works for me! I suppose the ones that just have a mark 13 could be a few years earlier.

Thanks so much again for your help.