www.925-1000.com

Hello everyone,

I have a wooden letter opener with an ornate sterling silver handle, and after looking at many photos of markings, I have not yet succeeded in identifying the maker. One side of the handle is inscribed with the word 'Sterling,' which makes me relatively certain that it's North American-made. It is also engraved with the year 1895, so I imagine that it is from that year or shortly after. The first of the four symbols in the maker's mark seems to have mostly eroded, but I haven't yet come across anything similar enough to the other three to definitively identify the maker. In addition, the owner was Canadian, so it is possible that the maker is also Canadian. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated!

Here are the links (I believe the photos are too big to post here):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68638707@N ... otostream/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68638707@N ... otostream/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

L

Hi,

Welcome to the Forum.

Not American, but English, assayed at Birmingham in 1895. The fact it is also, besides the hallmarks, marked 'Sterling' probably means that it was made for the American market.

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

To me it looks more like a page turner, rather than a letter opener.

If you can manage to capture a clear close up image of the worn mark, furthest left of your mark image, it may still be possible to identify the maker.

Trev.

Thanks so much for the help! I had initially considered that it may have been made in Birmingham, but was confused, not only by the presence of the word 'sterling,' but also by the date mark. After reading your reply, I took a closer look at the date chart on the Birmingham Assay Office site, and saw that the 'v' for 1895 looks suspiciously like what I thought was a 'b' on the page turner. I work in the curatorial division of a museum, and this is a newly acquired artifact. Your (much more) accurate (than my) identification of the object is greatly appreciated! Now I'm hoping that someone in our conservation department can use some kind of non-invasive CSI-type technique to help decipher the eroded manufacturer marking. Thanks again!

L

After a look under the microscope helped me get an idea of what letters could have been there, followed by some internet searching, I have determined the manufacturer to be Levi and Salaman (L&S). Thanks again for the help, and I hope this might be useful to anyone who might have an object with a similarly patterned handle!