www.925-1000.com

Would this be a good reason to prefer alpacca as a base metal over brass? It would be harder to tell you were down to base metal.

Thank you. I had no idea flatware was ever chrome plated. It certainly sounds practical. Would chrome-plating make items "low end," or was it thought better than silver plate or stainless? It obviously didn't "catch on" because there doesn't seem to be much of it around. And I wo...

I'm seeing pieces marked variously, "ALPACCA CHROM" or "CHROM ALPACCA." Some pieces look like stainless steel, others are obviously one metal plated over another (with one wearing off). I know what alpacca is, and I know what chrome/chromium is. I don't understand what the two no...

That certainly makes sense to me.

I was just in a forum (not here) where someone asserted that silver plated flatware is engraved (with initials or monogram) before the pieces are plated. From both the manufacturer's and the retailer's perspective, this seems absurd to me. The assertion was made regarding a piece of flatware alleged...

This is "Deerfield/Beacon Hill" from 1913.

My guess would be that the gaps are just part of the design, that is, not intended to be functional, just artistic.

As for the piece, my vote would be that it's a "brotgabel" — a bread fork. It's not unusual for these to be quite elaborate.

See also:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Kaltenbach_Altensteig

This could be Russian script "G" and "L":

As a stand-alone piece, a sharp, two-tined fork like this is usually used for serving cold meats, that is, it's a "cold meat fork." As part of a set of forks and spoons, I'm at a bit of a loss. It's a stabbing tool, so you wouldn't generally want to stick it in your mouth for fear of injur...

I agree that it's not WMF, at least not a pattern that I've ever seen from them.

But the "standard plate lot" is not correct in this instance. The 21 grams were used to plate 12 of these particular spoons, not an entire plate lot.

Yes. 12 spoons + 12 forks is what I'm calling a, "standard plate lot."

And the "senior moments" just keep rolling. Obviously, "23" should be "21."

As far as I know, WMF was using it's initials as its mark from its beginning, in 1880, up to about 1900. That age jibes with the spoon's style and the fact that this pattern does not appear in the 1906 catalog nor any subsequent catalog that I'm aware of. The number stamped on the back of a handle o...

These images are too small. Please aim at something close to 600 x 600 pixels in size, enough so the mark is readable. It should say more than just "21."

How long is the spoon?

Yes, that is the traditional view, but the fact is only some kinds of plastic bags release harmful gases. Not all do. As long as you make certain the bags you are using are 100% low density polyethylene — approved for food storage — it appears you can safely store silver in them. Certainly, if you d...

Sorry you had a bad experience with them. In any case, I would do my own heraldic translations. If you want, send me your item privately, and I'll take a whack at it. No charge.

This is a long shot, but it's possible the "medallion" on the blade is a coat of arms. I can't quite "transcribe" it's appearance into a blazon, but in its simplest form: Argent, a bend sinister engrailed Gules. Such arms are described for French COURCY or COURSY: http://www.coat...

I'm afraid I can't post an image due to copyright concerns, but in this case, I don't think one is needed... In WMF's 1906 reprinted "Art Nouveau" catalog, it shows a list of marks, including supplementary ones stamped on holloware. One of these supplementary marks is "zg," which...