German Silver Marked 800 Only?

PHOTOS REQUIRED - marks + item
Post Reply
asheland
Posts: 72
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2015 3:05 pm
Location: Western North Carolina

German Silver Marked 800 Only?

Post by asheland »

Is this common practice? I recently found a piece that I believe to be German and it's marked only with "800"
It's a somewhat important piece in the Trompe L'oeil style. Why would they not mark this with a maker's mark or hallmarks?
I'll post pictures in a few minutes. Below the 800 mark you can see what appears to be an assay scrape.

On Saturday I will have this piece tested (by X-ray) to confirm that it's 800 fine...
asheland
Posts: 72
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2015 3:05 pm
Location: Western North Carolina

Re: German Silver Marked 800 Only?

Post by asheland »

Image
Image
asheland
Posts: 72
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2015 3:05 pm
Location: Western North Carolina

Re: German Silver Marked 800 Only?

Post by asheland »

I am finding this looks like it might have been made by Julius Herz. Does anyone have any examples of Herz's work?
amena
contributor
Posts: 1305
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2012 8:42 am

Re: German Silver Marked 800 Only?

Post by amena »

What makes you think that is German?
In Italy, for example, until 1935 it was very common to mark only 800.
asheland
Posts: 72
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2015 3:05 pm
Location: Western North Carolina

Re: German Silver Marked 800 Only?

Post by asheland »

My gut is that it's German. Plus it looks similar to works by Julius Herz.
asheland
Posts: 72
Joined: Fri Dec 11, 2015 3:05 pm
Location: Western North Carolina

Re: German Silver Marked 800 Only?

Post by asheland »

A friend pointed me towards another possibility of it being Lazarus Posen. I'm honestly leaning more towards Posen now given the extreme similarity in design in examples that I am seeing. Is there any reason why he would only mark this 800? I cannot understand making such a wonderful piece and not putting my name on it...
Eclectic1
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2011 4:00 pm

Re: German Silver Marked 800 Only?

Post by Eclectic1 »

It's hard to fathom that this could possibly be German without the Imperial marks (crown, moon) even if there are no maker marks. Italian, on the other hand, looks feasible both stylistically and with its mark.
Aguest
contributor
Posts: 1612
Joined: Tue Feb 25, 2014 1:26 am

Re: German Silver Marked 800 Only?

Post by Aguest »

I know exactly how you feel.

How could someone make such a beautiful piece and only stamp "800" on it? I have found a few pieces with only an "800" or a "900" with an initial or two, and the best we could come up with is to describe it as "Continental." Somewhere in the continent of Europe, at some point from 1880-1920, would be my guess.

Remember that in Belgium, hallmarking was not compulsory during this period, so whenever I find a mystery piece such as this, I always keep Belgium as a distinct possibility. It's always great to find a real piece of Belgium silver, for example by Wolfers or Delheid Freres, but let's get back on track...

If this were German, I believe, and correct me if I am wrong, that the one city of Hanau in Germany was exempt from the traditional German hallmarking system, so you sometimes find pieces of "Hanau Silver" which has a wide range of different kinds of marks, many of which seem decorative in nature and some of which make no sense whatsoever. Hanau Silver was very often 800 purity.

So why couldn't this be a piece of Hanau silver?
Bahner
contributor
Posts: 1411
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2005 11:34 am
Location: Berlin, Germany

Re: German Silver Marked 800 Only?

Post by Bahner »

Hello, I see nothing that connects this to Hanau, the piece was quite crudely done. Btw Hanau makers were not exempt from German hallmarking laws. I feel a non European origin of this piece is also possible. Regards, Bahner
AG2012
contributor
Posts: 5576
Joined: Fri Apr 13, 2012 9:47 am

Re: German Silver Marked 800 Only?

Post by AG2012 »

Agree with Bahner; does not look like Hanau silver and ``Trompe L'oeil style`` is rather illogical.
The silver rope is indiscriminately applied.
Post Reply

Return to “German Silver”