www.925-1000.com

Hello everybody.

Just today I have purchased the first silver object into my art collection from a Copenhagen antiques dealer. :)
It is a regular spoon with a very intricate baroque engraving in the bottom. In Denmark, such designs were particularly common in the 1700s.
There are a couple of initials engraved as a series of dots on both sides of the spoon, along with an ambiguous year of creation 1808/1818.
Hence I have assumed that the item dates back to the early 19th century.

I do not have an extensive knowledge about antique silver and the lack of information makes it difficult to research the maker of the spoon I have.
There are no indications for the country of origin or an assay mark, only the inscription HBS can be seen, that is composed of a HB ligature over an S in a peanut-shaped cartouche.

I would be grateful for any kind of new information :) especially regarding the maker of the object. The relevant photos are attached.
Thank you in advance =)

The maker of your spoon is Hans Budtz Sommerfedt, born around 1725, master 8.4.1761 and dead 1800. He was active in the town of Aalborg in Denmark. He is known to have made spoons. The inscription AMS and ZMD indicate that the the spoon is likely a wedding gift. AMS is the groom. A and M are the letters of his forename and S stands for "søn", son in Danish. Z(?) and M are the bride's forenames and D "datter", daughter in Danish. A typical inscription for the time period.

Wow thank you...!

So it means that the dotted initials are later additions?
I am thinking as the silversmith already passed away before the inscribed year.
I haven't thought that the spoon was so old!!! Thank you so much for the exciting pieces of information.
Have a nice day.!!!

You're welcome. An engravings on an old piece can be anything and made e.g today, there is nothing prohibiting that, but doing it would be rather stupid because it affects the value of the object negatively. However, in your case it has no major significance.

I dont think that it is a wedding spoon.
But a gift presented at the 10 year aniversery of the couple. I.e. married in 1808 given in1818
The spoon is definetely older. Could very well be that the parents of the son or daughter gave a present at their 10 year.
The spoon itselves I would date to 25 to 50 years before this.

@Hose,

Yes, maybe you are right. You're Danish and know better than me the Danish habits. Difficult to know what is the truth.

i very much doubht that the 0/1 is a mistage. Thats why I suggest 10 year aniversery - othervice I would say wedding.