www.925-1000.com

Hi all,

I have had this coffee pot (?) sitting in my bookcase for two months now, waiting for me to have a sudden burst of inspiration as to its origin and age. It is made of sheet silver, has 4 ball feet, and is well made (also wooden handle). It is tall, 12.5" and has good weight. The mark is on the outer edge of the lower skirt. My guess is that it is European and was made between 1780 and 1820. I see nothing like it in any of my auction catalogues, and ball feet seem to be more 'northern' European, maybe Danish?.. This is beyond me..

I have included the photos of the pot and a close up of the marks (second photo)

Thanks in advance for your help.

Marc.


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It's Portuguese. The mark on the left is an assayer's mark from the city of Porto, either that of Luís António Rodrigues de Araújo, working 1843-1853, or his successor Manuel de Silva, working only in 1853. (It's too worn to tell which.)

The mark on the right (upside down in your photo) is the maker's mark "HIS", with the first two letters conjoined. The maker unfortunately is not identified, but his mark is well-documented, appearing earliest with the mark of Porto assayer Alexandre Pinto da Cruz, working 1810-1818, and latest with the mark of Manuel de Silva, above.

Hope this helps!

Blackstone-

Is it possible to tell what the silver content would be by assayer's mark? I was looking at the "Silver Standards of the world" section, but can not see anything that speaks of purity for Portugal prior to 1886.

http://925-1000.com/a_Standards.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Regards- byron

Prior to 1886, the Portuguese assayer's mark guaranteed the minimum fineness of 9 dinheiros (9/12 = .750). 10 dinheiros (10/12 = .834) and 11 dinheiros (11/12 = .916) were also permitted, and are sometimes so marked (e.g. "834", "XI"), but this was not mandatory.