Ad blocker detected: Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker on our website.
Good evening.
I am at a loss about this small (2 5/8” wide) hinged lidded silver box. It has a ?ram in flowers? design on the lid that is punched in from the underside; numerous soldered repairs along the edges of the bottom, and the date? 1694 engraved on the bottom with a script FH like a Danish assay master’s mark; an XXXU mark in a vertical row, and ?serif V? upside down? It was with a quantity of older Swedish silver; but I cannot find a source for Swedish marks that old. I appreciate any help.
AMW
Do you have the book 'International Hallmarks on Silver collected by Tardy'? There is an 18th century symbol for Amsterdam on page 308. This symbol has three crosses, in a vertical line, with some sort of character which could be a letter below the crosses. It is different from the bottom character on yours, but otherwise an identical mark.
I can imagine your confusion. The maker´s mark in script looks like the Danish ones to me. I can rule out the possibility of it being Swedish.
This snuff box makes me suspicious, while the marks in my opinion don't seem consistent with the engraving 1694.
Could this perhaps be the weight in grains (1 grain = 0,06479891 gram)? If this is the case, the weight of the the snuff box is approximately 110 grammes or 3.88 oz.
The three Saint Andrew´s crosses mark is the town mark of Amsterdam and in most cases the crosses are crowned. I have seen marks from 1807 without the crown. In my opinion these items must have been marked before 1 July 1807, when a law was taken in the newly established Kingdom of Holland and the town mark was changed to an oval mark.
Could the "U" be the date letter of 1803?
In my opinion it is Dutch, but I hope that Hose from Denmark will have a look at the maker´s mark. I have only the popular edition of Chr. A. Bøje´s book on Danish marks and you can never be too sure. If there is a perfect match with a Danish maker, then we are in trouble...
