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Found this at an estate auction

Posted: Sat May 16, 2015 9:33 pm
by larrywseale
Three Egyptian .900 silver pieces in a presentation box. They're miniature replicas (non-working) about 2 1/2" tall & all three pieces have the AMOCO logo. Date looks like 1947-1946 & I can't make out the assay office, perhaps Beni Suef?

Did I read the marks correctly?

No provenance but I'm thinking a retirement or parting gift for a Middle East AMOCO employee. Do the dates make sense?

Thanks

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Re: Found this at an estate auction

Posted: Wed May 20, 2015 3:46 am
by davidross
Wikipedia seems to be an excellent source of information on the history of the Amoco logo appearing on the posted items:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoco

I will leave it to our Middle Eastern experts to read the date letter.

Regards
DR

Re: Found this at an estate auction

Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 1:00 pm
by claretjugs
egypt past 1946 - Cairo i think

Re: Found this at an estate auction

Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 11:38 pm
by davidross
Definitely post-1946 insofar as the Amoco logo pictured here was adopted in 1970 according to the Wikipedia article mentioned in my last post.

Re: Found this at an estate auction

Posted: Thu May 28, 2015 1:19 am
by larrywseale
Read that article, David, & hence the question about the date mark.

Here's the reference for the 1946-1947 date:

http://www.mfti.gov.eg/affiliates/Natio ... ts/A03.htm

The AMOCO name, was used by Standard Oil before the 1971 logo in parts of the US & abroad. Don't know if it was ever found on the torch & globe. There's also a wreath at the bottom on the pieces but that could be artistic licence.

Doubt I'll ever know. Thanks.

Re: Found this at an estate auction

Posted: Thu May 28, 2015 1:53 am
by larrywseale
The date symbol was also used in 1996 & although possible, just seems more likely (to me at least) that you'd find the logo on Egyptian silver when American oil companies had a presence in in the Middle East.

Re: Found this at an estate auction

Posted: Fri May 29, 2015 12:30 am
by davidross
The article notes: "In 1961, the torch and oval was redesigned with a flatter oval and a more contemporary torch design with the logo bearing the Standard or American name in the U.S. and the Amoco name outside the U.S."

So the earliest possible date would be 1961 if, and only if, Amoco was operating in Egypt at that time and using this logo. While possible, it seems unlikely to me that the logo adopted nationwide domestically in 1971 would have been first used by overseas subsidiaries.

Re: Found this at an estate auction

Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2016 10:35 pm
by dnl
Hi all,

I concur with Larry, the date letter in this hallmark was used from Feb 1996 to Dec 1997.

Hope that helps.


dnl