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Spoon is German but engraving may not be

Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2015 6:17 pm
by theappleranch
This is a German spoon, Hesse, early 1800s, previously discussed on this forum under the topic named "Found in the family silver: 12 loth spoon, poss. Hanau City before 1888".

My question regards the engraving on the back. It looks like the initials M R, but neither really looks like German handwriting of the time. I've attached a photo, below, and I've also used a red line to indicate how the second initial is shaped. I have not been able to get a really clear picture so this is my solution.

I would like to know if this engraving looks correct for c1820, Hanau, Hesse, Germany, or of it suggests something else.

Thank you.

Image

Re: Spoon is German but engraving may not be

Posted: Sun Dec 06, 2015 4:13 am
by AG2012
but neither really looks like German handwriting of the time
You are referring to one of “gebrochenen Schriften" - Gotik, Schwabacher and Fraktur.
Typesetting in Fraktur was very common in all German-speaking countries but more than often it was not used to engrave monograms on silver.