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Hi all -

There was an interesting exhibition - maybe the interested had visited the Museum in Veendam.

The sailors from the Sielharbours of the East Frisian coast came far around in the world. Regular trade contacts existed throughout the Baltic Sea region. As part of a joint exhibition with the Veenkoloniaalmuseum in Veendam, the Netherlands, this part of the shared maritime history of the German-Dutch border area is now being retraced in the Sielharbourmuseum. It is not only a history of trade relations, but also of cultural contact, which shows in getting to know a foreign country - the visitor of the exhibition should be remembered that this shipping took place at a time when most people did not even think about traveling.
But the loved ones at home also had some of these trips - for them were the souvenirs that the sailors in Riga acquired. Painted wooden bowls or spoons could be purchased at a certain market in Riga. A decorated coffee service was of course also an adornment for the home table. And a popular means of "customer loyalty" were the silver captain's spoons, which always shows an engraving of the merchant who wanted consolidating his business relationship with the captain in question.
Riga was a popular trading destination. Besides wood, cereals, bricks and flaxseed oil were transported back and forth. The captains of the Sielhabours and Moorkolonies were the truck drivers of the 19th century. One sailed over the Kattegat to the destination port. The Veenkoloniaalmuseum has many treasures in its inventory that cover these trips and there are also some in the magazine of the Deutsches Sielhafenmuseum - Captain's spoons and Riganappen. Also, there are still many astonishing privately owned items.
With the exhibition "Greetings from Riga",
which lasted until 2nd November, the German Port Authority Museum in Carolinensiel, in cooperation with the Veenkoloniaal Museum in Veendam, would like to show that much of the historical material in our region, reminiscent of the Baltic Sea shipping of the time, has been preserved.

an "unmarked" Captain´s spoon fom Pernau -the collectors know the background.





Regards
Goldstein

Another example, this one carries the makers mark of Johann Ernst Krüger 1767 to 1796 with the inscription being dated from 1819. Presented by the firm of ship owners Heinrich Harder & Co











Please also see here: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=54659

Hello Goldstein,

after some years I´m back in the forum. By chance I got today a very similar spoon with a similar decoration and the same inscription "Hans Diedr. Schmidt Pernau". Only the year is different (1873).
Unfortunately there are also no makers marks. This seems to be not unusual. But why?
viewtopic.php?f=38&t=18394&p=148063&hil ... on#p148063

Kind regards and to all a happy new year,

Ringo

Hi R ingo,

Welcome back to the forum.

See: viewtopic.php?f=39&t=57948

Trev.

Thanks Trev. I am very sorry for this sad information.

dognose wrote:Hi R ingo,

Welcome back to the forum.

See: viewtopic.php?f=39&t=57948

Trev.

Such a loss! Knowledge is so hard to accumulate and so easy to lose. RIP

Happy New Year to all of you, for a successful and less stressful 2022.

My comments refer specifically to the previous submissions by Goldstein and Ringo regarding unmarked captain's spoons from Pernau.

I have been interested in captain's spoons for several years, not so much for the spoons themselves but primarily as witnesses of and windows on a very interesting period of commercial maritime history.

To my knowledge and after some thorough research, Pernau spoons up to 1853 show the well-known town mark for Pernau (a key with a joint cross) and the maker's mark for the silversmith. I know of a later spoon of 1876 for the Pernau shipping company of R. Barlehn & Co. with the full Imperial Russian marks for Reval, assayer's mark И•C (I•S) for I. Stepanov, and maker's mark of Tobias Limberg, thus not a Pernau-marked spoon at all. All the Pernau spoons I have and I know of after 1853 do not have any maker's and town marks.

Ringo asked the question that I have asked myself and been annoyed by it for some years, why should it be so? My research has brought no results at all: I have found no documents that show that the was an official reason for it. The only assumption/explanation that I have been able to think of is that after the introduction of the Imperial Russian marking regulations the guilds in the towns and cities of the Baltic states ceased to operate. For Pernau the Assay Offices were in Riga, in Pskov and in Reval and maybe the silversmiths and their clients (the merchant houses) agreed that they would save themselves the cost of the assay and the hassle of the journey to Riga/Pskov/Reval for something that it was to be given away abroad and was not going to circulate in Pernau or for that matter in elsewhere in Russia. Please note that this is my own assumption and that I have no official documentation to support it.

Quite a few of the account books for some of the Pernau commercial houses have been preserved and are in the Estonian Historical Archives in Tartu but I doubt very much that they would show references to the avoidance the assay fees by the silversmiths, in the case that they show references to the orders for the spoons.

I apologise for the long entry with actually very little concrete information but this is a topic that has bothered me for quite some time and maybe some of you has information that could help me to find a valid explanation?

Best regards!

Hello Scotrab,

your assumption is completely right. I just read in the book "Baltisches Silber" from Annelore Leistikow:

"Im Jahre 1840 wurde die Reorganisation des staatlichen Kontrollsystems für Metallarbeiten im ganzen russischen Imperium vorgenommen. Für die baltischen Goldschmiede bedeutete dies, dass sie die Kontrolle über die Silberarbeiten nicht mehr wie bisher wahrnehmen konnten, sondern das dies...jetzt durch staatliche Probehöfe vorgenommen werden sollte.
Der Versuch, in Pernau einen Probehof einzurichten, scheiterte. Die Goldschmiede...mussten ihre Arbeiten am Probehof in Riga stempeln lassen.
Dies verursachte für die Goldschmiede aufwendige Reisen. Außerdem war die Registrierung im Probehof mit Zahlung einer Steuer verbunden, was die Silberarbeiter mißbilligten und zu umgehen versuchten, indem sie ungestempelte Silberarbeiten auf den Märkten verkauften."

Annelore Leistikow "Baltisches Silber", p. 30f.


Translation with DeepL internet translater (my english is not good):

"In 1840, the reorganization of the state control system for metalwork was undertaken throughout the Russian Empire. For the Baltic goldsmiths, this meant that they could no longer exercise control over silverwork as before. This was now to be done by state trial yards.
The attempt to set up a trial yard in Pernau failed. The goldsmiths...had to have their work stamped at the trial yard in Riga.
This caused costly travel for the goldsmiths. Moreover, registration in the trial yard was connected with payment of a tax, which the silver workers disapproved of and tried to circumvent by selling unstamped silver work at the markets.

Annelore Leistikow "Baltisches Silber", p. 30f.

Best regards,
Ringo

Many thanks Ringo!

I am extremely pleased that my assumption that was unfounded up to your message has been proved correct by the well-known authority of Prof. Annelore Leistikow. I simply had not been able to find another plausible explanation.

Thank you for the quotation from A. Leistikow's book. I will file it in my database.

Best regards

Hi,

this captain's spoon bears the name of the merchant-house "Mitchell & CO."
I have never seen a spoon labeled "Mitchell & Co." in the forum.
The firm was listed on "LLoyd's Register of shipping 1881", p. XXII



The followings spoons show different motives:

1849
Michell & Co. - Schmidt, Johann Jakob, 1809-1849 - Riga - plants

1843
Fenger & Co. - Vendt, Georg Michael, 1805-1854 - Riga - ship and plants

1856 FORK!
Hill, Brothers - Beyerman, Carl Theodor, 1844-1893 - Riga - city view of Riga

1857
Hill, Brothers - Beyerman, Carl Theodor - Riga - city view of Riga

1859
Hill, Brothers - Beyerman, Carl Theodor - Riga - city view of Riga

1853
Meijer & Co. - Clemens (Clemenz), Hermann Georg, 1806-1843 /1846-1856 - Reval - shell

1853
Meijer & Co. - Clemens (Clemenz), Hermann Georg - Reval - shell

1848
G.W. Schröder & Co. - Knuth, Christoph Barthold, 1834-1864 - Riga -flowers

1850
G.W. Schröder & Co. - Knuth, Christoph Barthold - Riga - flowers

1853
G.W. Schröder & Co. - Knuth, Christoph Barthold - Riga - flowers

Regards
Silverstone

Hi,

in 1893, H.J. Top described in his "Geschichte der Fehnkolonien" after a visit to a captain's house:
“The seaman's wive kept the heaviest and most beautiful spoons bundled up with a ribbon.”

Maybe it looked like this:



These are the photos to my previous text - Re: Captain´s spoon Pernau - Silverstone » Sat Jan 15, 2022 6:35 pm:



Regards
Silverstone

Good afternoon Silverstone,

Congratulations! A very nice and well presented collection of Captain's Spoons.

J. Mitchell & Co can be found in the 1846 address book for Riga as "Mitchell J. (& T. A.). Kaufm. 1., ausländ. Gast; Firma: "Mitchell & Co.", Comptoirist und Schiffsrheder, Marstallstraße 60". The company were merchant in the First Guild and are indicated as foreign guests, with a merchant office in the Marstall Street 60. They were also ships owners.

The very nice photograph of the spoons in bundles tied with a ribbon as described in the quotation from the book shows precisely how the spoons were proudly displayed by the captain's wife: they were NOT for common table use! The Frisian Maritime Museum in Sneek in the Netherlands has the reconstruction of the "good room" of a captain's house: in the glass-fronted cabinet are displayed all the nice objects brought back by the captain from his voyages, porcelain, glassware etc. and in a glass vase there are his spoons, nicely tied with a red ribbon.

Best regards

Good evening Scotrab,

there is a museum in Pekela (Netherlands) with a captain's house.

Take a look at internet-search:
“Jaarverlag 2004 - Kapiteinshuis Nieuwe Pekela”
Many "Oostzeelepels", as they are called in Dutch, are shown.

I want to thank you for your detailed informations with a foto.
Just smile!



Regards
Silverstone

Thank you very much for another nice photograph!

For the moment there is a blizzard outdoors, so I read old threads. Anyway, for the records:

Herman Georg Clemens (punch H·C) 1806-1856 in Tallinn acted also as an assayer there 1844-1846 (punch ГК)

The master who punched CLEMENZ (with Z in the end) is a different master i.e. Carl Friedrich Clemens in Tallinn 1768-1793. (Alur Reinans, p. 14 and 90 number 18).

To Qrt.S - curently in a blizzard

What a difference a "z" makes! Thanks!

Regards
Silverstone