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Hi guys i'm new to this forum and was wondering if you guys can help me identify these hallmarks on a Siam bowl.

When's it made?
Whys it made?
Who made it?
Where is it made?

Thanks guys,
Simon






(admin photo edit - images too large - link only - see Posting Requirements )

Here's some better pictures of the hallmarks.

Hi Simon,

Thank you for posting this last set of photos that are very sharp and clear. You have already supplied most of the answers to your questions.

As you note, the top photo shows the maker's mark, 陳偉泰 CHEN Wei Tai.

The second photo shows a Chinese silver purity mark, 足銀, along with an 84 mark that seems to allude to the zolotniki standard used in the Russian Empire and its orbit of influence (Persia, for instance).

The third photo shows a mark I cannot read; it looks like a SE Asian script.

The fourth photo, including all of the marks, also shows the arrow mark, a complete mystery to me.

Unfortunately, I have found no information on this maker. My experience in this area is limited, so I don't want to write something now that will later require a retraction when someone more knowledgeable chimes in. I have seen the 84 mark used on some Japanese silver of the first decades of the 20th century, but never on SE Asian silver. In my opinion, the repousse work, as well as the motifs on the bowl, could only be SE Asian. In this case, however, the various marks point to geographies with very little intersection. Then there is the surprising appearance of a nearly identical set of marks (maker, Chinese silver purity, and 84) on both this bowl and the belt you posted. If all of the marks are genuine and of the same period (and I see no reason to think otherwise) they would lead me to deduce that the bowl and the belt are the work of a Chinese silversmith who was settled in a SE Asian port city that had some exposure or trade with the Russian Empire, probably around 1900, give or take a decade. Future Tsar Nikolas II did visit Siam (Thailand) in 1891, and a Russian diplomat was posted there from 1898, but I don't know that any conclusions can be drawn from this fact or any connection made to the bowl or the belt.

I am very curious to see what others have to comment upon these two items, and what historical scenario they suggest. If the OP knows something of their provenance, that might also shed light on their origin.

Regards
David R

Thai/Siam bowl, Chinese maker.
One mark is Thai script, but it's not clear enough for me to read it.