Göteborg, Sweden fish server (IMS maker)

[historydetective]

I have the following 11 and 7/8 inch fish server bearing the city mark of Göteborg, Sweden (Tardy's, page 379). It weighs 104 grams and also bears the Swedish cat paw or 3 crown mark and a maker mark of "IMS." I would like to know: 1. The name of the maker, and: 2. The approximate year it was made; with regard to the year made, I think I see an "L" within the top part of the B in the city mark, and then in the lower part of the B, there appears to be a "V." There might also be an "I" in between the L and the V, so did the city mark of Göteborg incorporate Roman numerals to code for the year, and if so, would this be from 1854 based on the form of the city mark or the style of the handle or the overall function of this utensil? And lasty: 3. Does anyone recognize what the inscription on the front of the handle, "Souvenir of (or af) A M C" signifies? I am appreciative of any answers.

[Hose_dk]

IMG is Johan Malmsted born 1759. Master 1783 active until 1831.
City mark is GB and you should not put any more attension to that. It is just GB.
Based upon style I would say that we are late in his period i.e. closer to 1831 than we are to 1800. In theory it could be older, but shape is later.
The inscription is "Souvenir af AMC" where "af" is corresponding to from. AMC being name - these rememberens things are wery common in that period. The present was given by - and that was put on the gift. That custom continued for 100 years from that.
I have a set of 6 spoons, where 4 are engraved with the bride and gom, and 2 contains names of those giving the spoons.

As for year mark - that is NOT part of the city mark. It is not uncommon that year mark is missing. Or city for that matter. Most have 4 marks, but the other is also seen.
In Denmark and Norway - year is very often part of city mark. But not in Sweden. Never in Sweden.

[Hose_dk]

souvenir is not a word I would expect - it could refer to a place. So it was bought at a specific location.

[historydetective]

Hose_dk, I am indebted to you; thank you for sharing your impressive knowledge and expertise. I am delighted to have the maker name and an approximate date. I've learned much about Göteborg, also, which is a wonderful side benefit from collecting silver.

[historydetective]

There is quite an interesting postscript to this thread: a Scandinavian fish slice collector wrote an article for the July/August issue of Silver Magazine with photos of his collection, and included in his collection was an IDENTICAL fish slice, even down to the same strange inscription and the missing date mark. I wrote a response that was included in the subscriber input section of the November/December issue of the magazine, and I will post it here in the near future with any replies. I quoted our own Hose_dk!!