www.925-1000.com

Yes, I'm familiar with the safety issues – from when I took a jewelry-making class back in high school, then a metal-working class in college. A built-in light and plexiglas shield are a must, as are goggles, a foot pedal, and some kind of exhaust system. In no case would I be using a stone or wire ...

"Zip-lock" is a commercial brand of household plastic bags here in the U.S. that work as you describe: by pressing a ridge on one flap into a groove on the other. I probably shouldn't have used the brand name, though it's rather like Americans using "Kleenex" as a generic term fo...

Between my age (I'm in my 70s) and 50 years of near constant keyboarding, my hands just can't take polishing silver by hand any more. I've tried a soft wheel and Hagerty's using a little Dremel drill, but not only is it slow and cumbersome, my hands are just as sore from holding the drill and the pi...

Not wanting to seem argumentative by bringing this up again, but... I just had occasion to pull out a place-setting of silver-plated flatware manufactured in the 1950s that I had the good luck to find "new in box" a few years ago. I want to photograph the set, but it would mean breaking op...

I have found "90" to be by far the most common thickness on vintage German silver-plated flatware, though I've seen it range from 40 to 150. The difference is huge on a long-used (old) piece: 40 pieces are apt to have the base metal showing widely through on wear spots while 150 pieces jus...

It looks like a "dabba," a vessel used to deliver food. Try a web search on "Dabbawala," the name of a person who delivers such food in India. I guess you could say he would be the equivalent of the pizza delivery guy in the U.S. I wish we had them here in the U.S. I love Indian ...

Yes, silver-plated knife banks. Try a web image search on "messerbank." It was common for vintage German silverware patterns to have a matching knife bank.

Thank you SO MUCH!

I think you're right about the DEP being DEPOSE. The mark is "DEP." not "D.E.P." I tried to get a closer image of the figure, but the "zoom" on my camera has broken. I'll have to ship it off for repair. I'll try for a larger, clearer image when the camera comes back.

I have just acquired two little silverplated spoons (length 140 mm), and I don't recognize the pictorial mark, much less the pattern: http://20thCenturyRedux.com/images/DEP_GARANTIE_tsp_entire_800.jpg http://20thCenturyRedux.com/images/DEP_GARANTIE_tsp_handle_800.jpg http://20thCenturyRedux.com/imag...

A magnet can be used to tell whether or not stainless steel contains nickel. Stainless steel is made mostly of iron with the addition of chromium and nickel, the former to prevent oxidation (rust) and the latter to resist acid corrosion. The proportions are usually 18/10 or 18/8, the numbers represe...

Thank you for the explanation, Joerg.

A. KÖHLER & Cie. Westbahnstrasse 9, and Graben 14, and Mariahilferstrasse 71a, Wien A. Köhler & Cie. - Wien - 1901 <snip> Established by Albert Köhler in c.1880. Acquired by WMF (Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik) in 1900. Following the acquisition by WMF, items produced by A. Köhler ...

I'm examining a silver-plated teapot: http://20thCenturyRedux.com/WMF/images/WMF_teapot_800px.jpg which is part of a set that appears in both the WMF 1925/26 Musterbuch : http://20thCenturyRedux.com/WMF/images/WMF1925-26_teapot_0703.jpg and the WMF 1937 Musterbuch : http://20thCenturyRedux.com/WMF/i...

Well, duhh. I just looked at the title and see it refers to a letter opener. I have no idea what these numbers mean in regard to a piece lacking "volume." Sorry.

The images of your piece are no longer online, and you don't give a description of what it was, but I'm going to guess it was some sort of pitcher or bowl because the "1,5" would refer to the volume of the object, in liters. This often?/always? means the piece was "hotelware." I ...

When you say, "grill," what comes to my mind is an asparagus server. These are from the 1925/26 WMF pattern book: http://20thCenturyRedux.com/WMF/images/WMF_1925-6_spargelservice_800.jpg If all you have is the rack, itself, then you are missing the glass insert and the carrier tray.

The number 229 refers to the catalog number. The image below is from page 167 of WMF's 1906 English catalog, Art Nouveau Domestic Metalwork from Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik:

My curiosity is getting the better or me.

Bahner,

Can you please share the identity of the second WMF pattern that used the "standard" plating method? If you don't know the name or Modell, a brief description of its appearance will suffice.

Diana

For the "last word" here.. These images are from page 32 of WMF's 1938 Bestecke katalog: http://20thCenturyRedux.com/WMF/images/WMF2200_ButterCheese1_800.jpg http://20thCenturyRedux.com/WMF/images/WMF2200_ButterCheese2_800.jpg Based on the scale, the #2242k set would be about 17 cm in leng...