www.925-1000.com

The 100 mark makes me think of Germany but I don't have any ideas who used "XXXX".

Tough image to read, but we sometimes see old marks that are X-ed out. Perhaps a firm changed marks, or one went into a foreclosure/bankruptcy action and the wares went over to someone else. Try to loupe it and read what was originally under the cross outs.

Thanks for your response Traintime. I was able to orient the piece towards sunlight and see it clearly. It appears to be a "W" transposed upon an "M".

I suppose that this corresponds to the first two letters/ a variation version of the WMF, which manufactured a lot of flatware you might see with a marking "100". They definitely made pieces marked "90".

It may have even been a factory error which caused this set of markings?

Here’s a thread referencing WMF catalogs and dating of marks: https://www.925-1000.com/forum/viewtopi ... 00#p142290

The X-outs weren’t necessarily done in Germany or in the manufacturer’s sphere, so it would be hard to tell if this was done on their end for something like seconds or repossessed property to be disposed of. It could be by a dealer in secondary markets who provided used or re-sold wares. We have some posted samples of rub-outs or X-outs for user names, but I don’t know of any threads for manufacturers. Yet II have seen American examples of this happening when firms may have been acquired by a surviving entity. Most of that would have occurred long ago. (That, of course, would not be the case for WMF if this was their product.)