www.925-1000.com

Hello!
I have two almost identical "spoons" (?) with 800 hallmark. One of them also has an additional mark that I could not identify. The origin of such mark is my question to the forum: where is it from?
I have looked through the countries that used the "800" mark, but could not find anything similar.

These objects also puzzled me for two more reasons:
a. What are they ? (I know, there is a specific forum for this question, should I open a separate topic there?)
b. These two objects are extremely similar, but their quality is obviously very different: one is nicely detailed and well finished while the other is kind of "rough". Is one of them a bad copy? or just a preliminary "test" or was it not finished?

I look forward to being illuminated by the kind experts....thank you!!
Andrea

Could be Hanau silver. The mark could be fleur de lis which was used by some Hanau companies. At least the style indicates to Hanau. Have you looked at the marks here?

https://www.925-1000.com/Fgerman_hanau_marks_01.html

How tall are the items? The only use I could think is that they could be some kind of shovels for pastries. Or if they are freestanding then maybe just for decoration. Does the rough one have hallmarks too?

Thank you for your quick reply!
I could not find any similar marks in any of the Hanau pages. Generally Hanau silver carry several marks, this item only has the 800 and the mistery mark. That is why I didn't consider Hanau.
The woman on the carriage drawn by three horses "feels" French, but there is no typical French manufacturer romboidal mark, nor does the hallmark resembles any of the 18th century French marks.
The taller item is 16 cm tall, it weighs 41 grams and no, it is not freestanding.
Regards
Andrea

Hi
this is the Apollo from Belvedera, a famous antique sculpture, now in the Vatican.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Belvedere
The second "item" is just lower quality.
Regards, Jörg

I should have recognized the sculpture. If you search "hanau silver apollo" you can find similar examples which are made in Hanau. One example has English import marks from the late 19th century which gives an approximate date. Apparently they are indeed some kind of serving spoons for sweet pastry.

Great info, thank you !
There is also another picture of an identical item claiming it is from Italy...in any case, I now know what it is and the approximate date.

The Apollo is clearly the Roman Belvedere, but I was mislead into thinking it could be French due to the uncanny similarity of the central decoration with the statues located on top of the Grand Palais in Paris.


Andrea