Can You Identify the Marks on this Snuff Box? Match Vesta?

[Mary Anne]

Hello,

Thank you for your assistance with this unusual little item. I am trying to help sell some items for a very nice senior who is liquidating her lifetime items and she has quite a bit of silver, of which I am an amatuer at best.

Most of her 70+ years she lived in New England and traveled the antique shops and also inherited quite a few. She has quite a few things that I just don't have a clue what they are! This is one of them. She can't remember if she inherited or purchased it at an antique shop. She never knew what it was.

It has a mark on the base "PJP" and another mark I believe to be 12C (could that be coin?). I looked in my "Old Silver" book for hours and couldn't find anything related. Because she and her ancestors are from Boston and traveled up through Maine buying in New England shops, I thought it was American.

Now, if you don't mind. I know we are getting out of the relm of Identification of Silver Marks, but do you think this could be a match vesta or a snuff box? I just couldn't find anything similar.

Thank you in advance for your time and assitance! It is greatly appreciated.

Cordially,
Mary Anne

[Neruda]

I'm pretty certain that the second mark is "12 L" or twelve Loth, a measuring system for the purity of silver used in Germany and Poland up to approx. the third quarter of the 19th century. It corresponds roughly to about 85% pure silver.

My guess is your object has some sort of devotional purpose (Sacred Heart etc).

[Mary Anne]

Thank you! That gives me a direction to look at. Could you tell me how 12 Loth would compare to sterling?

[dragonflywink]

Lovely piece! The löthige or lödig system was used in much of northern Europe, including the German states, Austro-Hungarian Empire (including Poland and Czechoslovakia), and the Scandinavian countries. I've seen similar loth marks on 18th-19th century Norwegian pieces. 12 loth would correspond to a fineness of 750/1000 as opposed to the sterling fineness of 925/1000.

Cheryl ;o)

[pepijn]

This is a interesting box. It is a Scandinavian, most probably a North-German or Danish, socalled marriage box. They were made from the 18th to the late 19th Century. This is a 19th Century example.
As far as I can see on the photo, the left mark is a maker's mark and the right photo is 12L. This is an essay mark meaning 12 lotig. This is just about .800 alloy.

[Mary Anne]

Thank you very much for identifying this wonderful silver box. I have fallen in love with it and now I know what it is adds to its charm!

Thanks to all on the id for sharing your vast knowledge on silver. It is deeply appreciated.

Mary Anne