www.925-1000.com

Salt cellar import, assayed to be sterling in London 1903, sponsor Singleton, Benda & Co. After cleaning from a very distressed state, the (rubbed) original marks (see pics, with the marks in 2 magnifications) appear to be German, of which the second from left would then be "5" (of a "15") for purity .937 (in line with London assay) and the second from the right the hatched pomegranate of the Augsburg city mark? Even under extreme magnification I can find no trace of a letter date mark. The leftmost mark, one way up (as shown) resembles a ram's head, the other way a flower..? The rightmost mark at first resembled 3 towers; with further cleaning to the current state, these could be three crowns or even three stars?

Any pointers beyond this point (including, alas, firm direction to hallmark "pseud's corner" if needs be) would be a tremendous help.

*R*ichard

The mark on the left is the trademark of Kark Kurz of Kesselstadt, Germany, who was the son of the Johann S. Kurz in this thread. He left the family business to start his own concern around 1876/77. I have seen the other marks - which undoubtedly pseudo-marks (Kesselstadt is essentially a suburb of Hanau) - with Kurz's mark before. It is to be noted that Kurz had ties to both Hanau makers Georg Roth (whose trademark and pseudo marks are sometimes seen alongside Kurz's) and Gebr. Dingeldein (Kurz's daughter married August Dingeldein in 1911.)

Many thanks indeed! That brings all the marks back into sync with one another. Thanks again.