www.925-1000.com

I'm posting this here because I'm not sure what country it is from. It's a snuff box and it is marked MK. It also has a mark that is similar to the British registration marks but it's not exactly the same. It has letters and numbers enclosed in either a beehive or circular punch. There is a 2 above a 4 on the left side and then, to the left of that, a B at the 12 o'clock position with a circle under that containing numerals (25 I think),a horizontal line under that with either a 1 or an I. Sorry I couldn't provide better images but the marks are so tiny I had to use a lens from a slide projector to photograph them. Consequently there is very little depth of field. Thanks for any help.

The mark is for 15 Lot silver (15/16 or .938, near sterling) used by the Austro-Hungarian Empire 1807-1866, with the date here in the 1840s. (The upper left digit is a one, and the lower right will give you the exact year - 184?.) The letter "B" at the top was the code for the assay office in Prague. "MK" is the maker, of course, but I don't know of a good book on Prague silversmiths. (And would appreciate knowing about one if someone else does.)

took another look at the mark and realized that the right side of it was rubbed off so I guess it's safe to assume that it was made sometime in the 1840's. If i run across Austrian makers's marks I'll post them, if that's permissable?