www.925-1000.com

Hello there, I have an old breslau tray. Problem is that the date mark on this tray is from 1761-1776, but the maker mark look like the one used by Christian Maximilian Schmidt (CMS), who according to Hintz has worked in 1723-1751. There is at least 10 years discrepancy. Most likely I misidentified the maker, but maybe this example proves Hintze wrong. What do you think?



Thank you,
Jack

No error here, the maker is Carl Maximillian Powalsky (fl 1753-1790); see Hintze page 140. Hintze doesn't illustrate Powalsky's mark, but describes it as "CMP in a leaf-form field". Note that Schmidt's mark is in a heart, not the leafy outline here; and once you know the bottom letter is a "P" not an "S", you can really see it.

Hope this helps!

PS: As it is now over 100 years old and in the public domain, Erin Hintze's classic (and still unsurpassed) Die Breslauer Goldschmiede is available in its entirety as a totally free downloadable PDF from Google Books.

Thank you Blackstone. This is it! Perfect.