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Potential silverplate: B, Fleur-de-lis, G, unknown image
Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2024 8:38 am
by Bertie_
Hey,
Normally I have no issue finding out silver marks but this one has stumped me. For context most of my silver is very old Scottish, but this one could be from anywhere as I know nothing about it.
I believe that this is silver plate, but I am not certain. The markings appear to be B, fleur-de-lis, G, within a sort of crown stamp indent, and then the most mysterious stamp below of an image I can’t make sense of. Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
https://tinypic.host/image/Hallmark-close-up.08hPd
https://tinypic.host/image/Silver-side-view.08gBw
https://tinypic.host/image/Silver-front-view-full.08iMa
Re: Potential silverplate: B, Fleur-de-lis, G, unknown image
Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2024 9:28 am
by dognose
Hi,
Welcome to the Forum.
Please embed your images as very few members will click on links.
https://postimages.org (choose 'Share', then copy the 'Hotlink for forums' code) is recommended. Do not use Photobucket or Dropbox.
Trev.
Re: Potential silverplate: B, Fleur-de-lis, G, unknown image
Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2024 12:09 pm
by Bertie_
Re: Potential silverplate: B, Fleur-de-lis, G, unknown image
Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2024 1:09 pm
by dognose
Hi,
That's great.
The lower mark looks like the lion of St. Mark. I'll move the topic to the 'Other Countries' section of the forum.
Trev.
Re: Potential silverplate: B, Fleur-de-lis, G, unknown image
Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2024 3:38 am
by amena
Hi Bertie
Your object is an incense vessel of typical Venetian shape.
The mark with the lis flower is that of the "sazador" (assayer) Zuan Piero Grappiglia (second half of the 18th century, until 1802, according to Pazzi's book)
The other mark is a "moleca", hallmark of the Venice mint, of an unusual shape.
Very often these marks are falsified, but in this case I think there are authemtic. It is quite rare to find fake sacred silver, and the screw "worm" would seem genuine.
There should also be marks on the foot. A photo of the latter would confirm the authenticity.
Congratulation, very nice find.
Amena
Re: Potential silverplate: B, Fleur-de-lis, G, unknown image
Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2024 7:16 am
by Bertie_
amena wrote: ↑Wed Jan 03, 2024 3:38 am
There should also be marks on the foot. A photo of the latter would confirm the authenticity.
Hi Amena,
Thank you for all of this information, this is truly fascinating and I would never have been able to find that out myself!
The image above is of the underbelly of the main body, which has I believe the same mark as on top.
As for the foot itself I could not see any marks, not stamp imprints unfortunately..
(Rotated 180° to previous image)
If the mark on the foot is a sure way for authenticity then I suppose this must be a fake, but it’s very interesting to me none the less
Many thanks,
Bertie
Re: Potential silverplate: B, Fleur-de-lis, G, unknown image
Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2024 9:08 am
by amena
The absence of marks on the foot is not necessarily proof of a fake.
What's inside the red circle, is it just a decoration?
Re: Potential silverplate: B, Fleur-de-lis, G, unknown image
Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2024 2:46 pm
by Bertie_
amena wrote: ↑Wed Jan 03, 2024 9:08 am
The absence of marks on the foot is not necessarily proof of a fake.
What's inside the red circle, is it just a decoration?
Just decoration as far as I can tell, the pattern is repeated around the base, just not very consistently.
Re: Potential silverplate: B, Fleur-de-lis, G, unknown image
Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2024 4:38 am
by amena
Thanks for your image.
I can add a clarification: the first letter of the assayer's mark is not a B but a Z interwined with a P (Zuan Piero) Below is a well-struck example.
As I said it is easy to find fakes, below is an example, unfortunately of one of my sugar bowls
Regards
Amena
