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Hello. I have an antique silver "book shield", which I believe was fixed to the front of a large anatomy or other medical text. It has a relief image of an anatomy lesson over a cadaver and many engraved surgical instruments. The style of the instruments is definitely 17th century. There are three hallmarks and I have not been able to find them anywhere. There is a date letter "C" and also a bird snd what appears to be a crown or flower. I am trying to upload photos of the book shield and hallmarks. My expertise is in antique surgical instruments and not silver! If I am in the wrong forum please let me know. Many thanks!

So sorry. Having trouble uploading the images!

Hi,

Welcome to the Forum.

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Trev.

If these don't belong in this forum (eg. not dutch hallmarks) I would be very grateful to determine where I should be posting! This "book shield" has bneen a mystery for years! Many thanks.

Here are a few more detailed photos. There are numerous 17th century surgical instruments engraved on the piece. These include arrow extractors, amputations saws, bleeding knives, etc. Thanks for helping with this mystery!

Hi, welcome to the forum. About six year ago I saw this shield for the first time and was asked about these marks.
The marks are unknown to the various Dutch experts who looked at this shield. We believe it to be fantasy marks and perhaps used by a 18th century or later silversmith.
I have also shown the shield to our German expert who came to same conclusion.

Peter.

Thanks for this Peter. I'm an interested friend of Doug who posted originally and I had also put this up on the German forum. That's helpful, if a little disappointing. It seems like a substantial piece. What exactly is meant by fantasy marks and what was the purpose behind them? There seems little doubt that this is silver and well made and I imagine must have been done by a silversmith with the capacity to hallmark his work. Would the reason behind inventing marks be a way making the the piece appear older than it was (so if made in say the 18th C, an attempt to make it seem 17th C or earlier), or was there a cost to applying the marks which the maker was trying to circumvent?

It could have been made by a 18th century silversmith in a city without an official gold & silver guild. The silversmith applied it own marks.
See:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=27835&p=104816&hilit=Osch#p104816

Another possibility it is made late 19th century with pseudo marks to pretend to be made earlier. See Hanau (style) pseudo marks
See: https://www.925-1000.com/Fgerman_hanau_marks_01.html

Peter.

Thanks so much for the great information. I do think it is an early piece in studying it closely. Will post any further information that I discover!