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Hello Forum, here are two Austro-Hungarian spoons:


The large spoon measures 8 3/4" and bears three hallmarks: The post-1872 Diana head showing the third standard and 'C' for the city of Prague. The two following marks show the maker 'FB' and then a crest with a double-headed eagle and the letters 'F B' on top, possibly with a star between them. Who was FB?


The smaller spoon measures 7". It also shows the third standard and the letter 'P' for the city of Pest. The maker's mark is 'BU'. Would anyone happen to know more about this maker?


All the best
Mikael

Hello Forum,

Well I thought these would prove difficult! It has been suggested that 'FB' stands for the Czech maker Franz Bibus. If anyone happens to know anything about this maker, I would very much like to know.

Meanwhile, 'BU' is a tricky one - there is no maker with those initials listed in any of the books I've consulted...

Best wishes

Mikael

The 'BU' may well be 'PU'. The mark appears damaged or misshapen.

Hello Salmoned, and thank you for the input. I'm certain it says 'BU' - I've investigated the mark from all angles under the microscope and it's actually a rather well-struck 'B' - it's just not easy to capture well with my camera...

Also, I've come across another forum, where the same maker/mark was queried.

The person asking for help (in 2005) seemingly had a whole set of 'BU' silver (I only have this single spoon), but the tread ends without any resolution...

Best wishes

Mikael

Hello, check this thread


http://www.925-1000.com/forum/viewtopic ... ight=bibus" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


for Bibus. I don't believe it is Bibus though, Bibus was in a different district of the state and I don't think they used the Prague mark there.

The guarantee mark used during the German occuption was NOT the one shown here. See Tardy for the marks introduced in Bohemia and Moravia in 1942. Best wishes, Bahner

Hello Bahner, and thanks for the input. Very useful. I think I'll try to locate a reference book on Czech and Hungarian silversmiths if any such exists. (That should also help with the four ladles listed in a separate post.)

Best wishes

Mikael

Dear Forum,

My previous image host has closed down. Here are fresh links to the images of the two Austro-Hungarian spoons:


The large spoon measures 8 3/4" and bears three marks: The post-1872 Diana head showing the third standard and 'C' for the city of Prague. The two following marks show the maker 'FB' and then a crest with a double-headed eagle and the letters 'F B' on top, possibly with a star between them. Who was FB?


The smaller spoon measures 7". It also shows the third standard and the letter 'P' for the city of Pest. The maker's mark is 'BU'. Would anyone happen to know more about this maker?


Kind regards
Mikael

Hello

The big one of your spoons is a table spoon, Model 400/1 from »Fr. Bibus u. Sohn, Silber- und Electroplatedwarenfabrik, Mähr. Trübau« (Company’s name of that period) (transl.: Fr. Bibus & Son, Silver- and Electroplated Products Factory).

Fr. Bibus & Son was in their Czech country the almost important factory for hollowware products in Silver. Their plated product range was in parts the same.



(Back side of spoon is shown here)

For cutlery in Silver they cooperated with J.C. Klinkosch, in Vienna, Austria. And for cutlery in Plated they cooperated with «Berndorfer», in Berndorf, Austria, and «August Wellner Söhne», in Aue, Saxony, Germany.

Maybe you don’t know that only for marks, registered in Vienna Assay Office exist for the period of 1867 until 1922 exist a reliable guide, researched by Waltraud Neuwirth.

Until yet don’t exist a similar guide for all the other Assay Offices of the former Austrian Hungary Empire.

So it happens most times by incidence only that maker’s mark from other Assay Offices could be identified.

For that reason “maker’s” identity of your dessert spoon remain yet unsolved.

It could be that both spoons birthplace was: J.C. Klinkosch, Afrikanergasse 5, Vienna II, Austria.

Kind regards silverport

Hello Silverport,

Thanks ever so much - that's very useful.

At some point I might collate a list with images of Austro-Hungarian marks; there seems to be so much unknown about the makers.

Kind regards

Mikael

Franz Bibus & Sohn Company
The company was founded by Franz Josef Bibus (1860—?), son of a master baker in LanÅ¡kroun (Landskron). There he trained in the gold- and silversmithing craft.
From 1883, he was active in Moravská TÅ™ebová, where he married and where his son Carl Alois Franz Bibus was born in 1887. In 1917, Carl became the firm’s co-owner. The commercial name Franz Bibus first appeared in 1896. Initially, the company made gold and silver necklaces, eventually enlarging its assortment to include boxes of various shapes. After moving to the workshop on 16, Olomoucká Street, which facilitated production on a larger scale, the firm’s range of articles expanded to comprise silverware and table utensils. Around 1900, some one-hundred employees worked for the company; in 1914, there were close to two-hundred. At the time, the firm began manufacturing galvanized objects. In 1917, the company changed its name to Franz Bibus & Sohn. The firm
specializing in the production of silver, nickel silver and galvanized items operated into the 1940s, when František Bibus was forced to sell his company. After World War II, the state administration merged all local workshops into a single
state-owned enterprise named Sandrik.

Hi CE,

Many thanks for taking the time to add this valuable information.

Regards Trev.