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Coin or Continental? Large serving spoon and soup ladle

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 10:26 am
by lmrotelli
Hello -

Looking for help identifying the maker of these two pieces. They were owned by great-grandparents that immigrated from Italy to Providence, RI right around the end of WW1. Unsure if they brought them from Italy or if they purchased them here in the US.

Spoon: 13" (215 grams)
Ladle: 13.75" (240 grams)

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Thanks in advance for any help with identifying the marks!

Re: Coin or Continental? Large serving spoon and soup ladle

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 2:44 pm
by Joerg
Hi and welcome to the formum
I mainly reply to bump your post on the top so other formum members may notice and contribute.
Your problem is a hard one. When you search for a mark, you usually start with a feeling where the piece could come from. Going for yours, my feelings tell me they are from around 1800 to 1820, the marks look Italian.
Unfortunately, I could not find a match in Tardy. And I do not have more detailed literature on Italy. Maybe you can help by telling us, where from Italy your ancestors are. We have a good chance the pieces did not travel much within Italy. This may help narrow the search.
Any maybe our Italian specialists my find a match.

Regards
Jörg

Re: Coin or Continental? Large serving spoon and soup ladle

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 5:37 pm
by lmrotelli
Thank you, Jörg!

They were from Naples, Italy...Our ancestor was Ferdinand I of The Two Sicilies. Here is information about him:

Ferdinand I (12 January 1751 – 4 January 1825) was the King of the Two Sicilies from 1816, after his restoration following victory in the Napoleonic Wars. Before that he had been, since 1759, Ferdinand IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinand III of the Kingdom of Sicily. He was deposed twice from the throne of Naples: once by the revolutionary Parthenopean Republic for six months in 1799 and again by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1805.

Not sure if that helps at all.

Thank you again!!

Re: Coin or Continental? Large serving spoon and soup ladle

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2015 8:24 pm
by lmrotelli
Hello Jörg -

Thank you again for your help. I believe you are correct about these being Italian marks.....I found the exact same marks on the below site - see link. They were made in the Kingdom of Naples during the French Domination (from 1808 until 1823) and depict silver fineness of 834/000. This totally makes sense with our history. So, your hunch was correct! Thank you thank you!


http://www.silvercollection.it/NAPLESHALLMARKS.html

Re: Coin or Continental? Large serving spoon and soup ladle

Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2015 2:08 am
by Joerg
Your welcome

I was on the same webpage yesterday, focussing on Northern Italy, but also looking in the Napels section. However, I did not notice the mark yesterday. But yes, you have a winner! Congratulation for successfully localizing and dating the item.

Jörg