Help with Hanau Pseudo?? Silver Hallmarks

[richard357fallon]

I picked up this pair of birds this morning and i need help with the hallmarks. I was told it was a Hanau Maker, If any one has any information it would be greatly appreciated - Richard




I know they are not the best pics of the hallmarks but i think the first one is a Mimic of the King George Duty Mark the second appears to be a bird with its head pointed up or maybe a Fluer-de-lis and the third appears to be a star or a pointed sun. Those are my best guesses let me know if you need more pics.

[richard357fallon]

Just had the these pieces assayed at NTR Metals and here are the results Ag = 94.485% (+/-0.138) Cu 5.253% Zn 0.088% Which is allot better than the 80% i was hoping for. - Richard

[Theoderich]

Why do you think that it is german?

[richard357fallon]

They were listed as 800 Hanau Silver pheasants at the auction house we purchased them from. They based this information off of similar styled silver pheasants they have seen in the past and on Artfact.com. However due to the high silver content im at a dead end. If you can think of another place they could be from please let me know - Richard

[dognose]

Hi Richard,

Don't dismiss Hanau on the basis of the silver purity. The manufacturers of Hanau made their products in a wide variety of standards depending on the country that their wares were destined to be exported too.

Trev.

[Bahner]

Hi, looks indeed like Hanau pseudo marks. As to the silver purity - completely agree with Trev on that point. Anything was possible in Hanau. Besides - what exactly was the method of testing ? There are some unreliable ones... Best wishes, Bahner

[richard357fallon]

The exact method of assaying is unknown but it was done professionally and it did require a small piece of the bird (we used the broken part of the feather) to determine the metal content. This weekend i saw the same unknown hallmark on similar table pheasants at an auction house in NYC. So it is my best guess that these pieces were made in Hanau for export to Britain. I also believe they were made from 15 lot German silver which would be consistent with age and region. If anyone else has any more to add please feel free - Richard