Maltese Napkin Ring - Explanation of marks request

[SilverK]

Hi,

I have a Maltese napkin ring which I'm quite sure was made somewhere between 1905 and 1910. The various examples of Maltese silver I've seen on this forum and elsewhere seem to concentrate on the 19th century and so I can't find any clear examples which cover the marks on this item. Would someone be kind enough to interpret the marks for me, please? The first mark on the left appears to be a bird. Does the '6' refer to 1906 or something else altogether? And what is in the diamond stamp (which appears to be a C or omega sign on its back)? What is the company name and would it be the maker or retailer? It seems to say CIS MELI. MALTA, but there may be a partial letter before CIS.

Any help would be most gratefully received, as always.

Regards,

[dognose]

Hi SilverK,

Francis Meli perhaps?

See: http://www.925-1000.com/forum/viewtopic ... eli#p85147

Trev.

[SilverK]

Hi Trev,

Thanks for responding so quickly. Its certainly a good idea, but I'm a bit doubtful. The mark in front of 'CIS' is rather like a dash along the bottom edge of the word which I don't think would correspond with the bottom of an 'N'. More like the bottom of an 'E'.

Just to note that I can't see the ghost of any other letters which may have been rubbed away and the crispness of the assay marks would suggest no rubbing has occurred. So I think the roundness of the ring and the flatness of the punch has caused the first few letters of the word to miss hitting the metal when stamped.

Silverk.