www.925-1000.com

Hi

Can anybody point me in the right direction of the origin of this novelty perfume flask? It has two tiny marks to the lid which I don't recognise.

Many Thanks
Martin

See the Dutch marks page for the mark on the right: https://www.925-1000.com/Fnetherlands_Date_Code.html

Phil

silvermakersmarks wrote:See the Dutch marks page for the mark on the right: https://www.925-1000.com/Fnetherlands_Date_Code.html

Phil

Belgian Silver

This is without a doubt a sword (small works) from Belgium 1832-1869.

Belgium was first in the hands of France, then the Netherlands and 1832, after the ten-day campaign (fights between the Netherlands and Belgium), Belgium was detached from the Netherlands in 1832 by France. (Kingdom of the Belgians)

As a result, the old hallmarks were declared invalid and destroyed.
Mainly found in Liège.

Regards
Dendriet

Many thanks to you both for this useful information.

Martin

Hi Martin, a little bit more information to read through;
To my knowledge erasing, destroying of (foreign) invalid hallmarks in the Netherlands and Belgium was not a common practise. I have noticed it on Imperial Russian silver where the old hallmarks of the Tsar era were destroyed/erased and replaced by Soviets hallmarks. I do not know what happened to your silver perfume flask and what has been erased. Perhaps the essayer made a serious mistake and had to correct/erase the error(s). What is the size of the flask, could it have been part of an assemble?

Belgium 1832-1869

The assay offices
The assay offices were kept open after the Belgian uprising against the Dutch regime, except for the cities of Maastricht and Luxemburg who remained occupied by Dutch troops. The administrative centre of the province of Luxembourg was transferred to Arlon by resolution of 16 October 1830, and an assay office was established in Hasselt in order to replace the one in Maastricht.
The marks
A resolution of August 18th 1831 stipulated the use of the new marks in Belgium. The seals were only at the disposal of the assay offices around 1 march 1832. Meanwhile, they kept using the marks from the Dutch era.
The assay mark
Resolution of 14 September 1814, continued to be in force, so the alloys of the Dutch era remained unchanged.
The assay office hallmark
The assay office hallmark pictured Minerva’s head wearing a helmet with a letter which identified the office. The letters remained the same as in the Dutch era.
The marks foreign and recence
A mark foreign, showing the gothic letter E was assigned to those works imported from abroad. It did not guarantee whatever alloy
A mark recense, showing the gothic letter R, was for free, but could only be put on objects already carrying the assay marks or assay office hallmarks of the Dutch era, within two months time as of 1 March 1832. The works of the French era or of the Ancien Regime were classed with foreign works and had to be marked within the same period of time with the mark for foreign work E serving as recense.

Not to make it easy. The Dutch and Belgian sword marks according literature;

Above from Walter van Dievoet Algemeen repertorium van de edelsmeden en van de merken van edelsmeedwerk in België
Below from Het Zilver Lexicon



Peter.

Source; Walter van Dievoet Algemeen repertorium van de edelsmeden en van de merken van edelsmeedwerk in België II 1798/1942
Janjaap Luijt Het Zilver Lexicon

Hi Peter

Thank you for the information. The flask measures 18cms in length, I am calling it a perfume flask but that is only a guess, as you can see it has a suspension loop so I am not sure if that was a usual thing for this type of item.

Martin

The bottle is 18 cm long, the widened neck mouth with wide hinged cap, perhaps not for perfume. Does it have an inner stopper and is the flask gilded inside?

After some research. To me the sword mark on your flask appears to be the Dutch sword mark for small silver items.
The Belgian sword has two important characteristics: a diagonally hatched blade and (depending on the angle of the punch mark) a pommel (spherical knob) at the top of the handle. Both features are missing on the image of your sword mark.


Peter



Gratitude;
Dr. Wim Nys I Hoofd Collectie & Onderzoek
DIVA, Museum voor diamant, juwelen en zilver

You cannot see inside the flask as such, as there is only a small hole beneath the hinged lid from which the liquid would be dispensed. There are no other ways into the flask so any liquid going into it would have to be put in via the little dispensing hole, presumably by some sort of small funnel. I have attached an image below.

Martin

Hi Martin,

Be so kind to show some more images, both sides of the bottle.
It is indeed a perfume or eau de cologne bottle. It is a perfume/scent bottle in the shape of a mandolin or lute. What we see is the back. Do you also have the front? It opens at the end; hinge there, the cork is missing. It is typical of Schoonhoven in terms of design / ornamentation. Made around the end of 19th century.


Peter.



Gratitude;
Rene Kappers
Zilver Histograaf Schoonhoven

Hi Peter

Thanks for your response, please see attached image of the front of the flask.

Martin

Hi Martin,

Your welcome. However always show all relevant images up front! It is clearly a lute and if you yourself had Googled silver perfume bottle lute you straight away find a Dutch connection and the answer on your question. It looks like you have to tension the strings.

Fa.(Firm) H. Hooijkaas 1874-2008; Zilverfabriek Schoonhoven could be a possible candidate either as maker or retailer. See;
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=28590#p71003

Peter.

Thanks again Peter. My request for information however was about the origin of the marks, I never asked for clarification on what the object was.

Regards
Martin.

Hi Martin, all clear.
Best,

Peter.