www.925-1000.com

I thought of that Trev, but it appears to have no holder for the customary pencil and carrying it would be awkward. I see no way to clip it onto a belt (one would expect if it had a fixture, they would show it). Maybe a case for calling cards (pull the tassle a cover pops up and a few cards are secr...

First thought was a book-mark, but it looks too thick, maybe used as a page weight (no I do not have a fetish for weighting things).
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The mark is an American standard, its style was most popular during the late 1890-1920 period. Your ring appears to be from that period, most likely just prior to WWI (then that style of top engraving was most popular). The cypher appears to be A.W. or W.A. and would have been heavily engraved to ma...

Wrere it bigger I would say a posie holder, but its diminutative size says a lapel vase for a dandy's buttonier.
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When I worked for them in the 70's they were plating on brass.
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If they predate WWII they may have been painted to disguise them during the war. As countries needed money for their war efforts confiscated good were often melted down to... Here in the US we see a darth of pre-civil war silver from the south because of this issue.
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The reason I go with sleeve weight and vinaigrette is that form should follow function. put your needles in this case (appears to be made in the early to mid 1800's) and you have a good way to lose some expensive needles, since I can picture them coming out the hole that the chain passes through. Mo...

Marks can be faked in several ways: 1. Use the marks cut from another piece and solder them into the body of the new piece. I believe this practice is what lead the hallmarking of flatwear to be changed and the marks turned so they read vertically rather than on the horizontal plane. 2. Make punches...

Sleeve weights were used, mostly by women, as the name suggests, to hold the flowing sleeves in place. As the arm was raised, the long point of the sleeve would stay down. As for it being 8" long, in the picture it appars shorter. if the case is 2.75" I would have guessed it's overall leng...

My first guess would be a sleeve weight, with a place to hold scent. is the bead amber or carnelian?
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Snifter, balloon or bauble, though here they are also refered to as bulbs.
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Sorry, but I could not find any mark close to that in my reference books.
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How about a check-list page for folks completely new to researching silver. IE ( this is just a rough list done in a couple of minutes but properly worded and with the correct links, most could follow it): Does your piece appear to be solid silver or are there places where a base metal is showing th...

The photo of the mark is too small for me to see clearly. As for the maker, it may well have been made in R.I. where a lot of this type of piece was made. There are collectors of Krewe items and I have seen books on the items sent with the invites.
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These were gifts to the ladies attending the Krewe's Mardi Gras Ball. The gift arrived with the coveted invitation and was often worn to the ball. The gifts were usually marked with the krewe name and year dated.
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Possibly combine the World Hallmarks page (which is very informative but could be expanded slightly to include added pictures of say: other marks for Mexico, the eagly outlines with numbers and their initials with the numbers) with the Overview page, reducing the steps needed to see examples to comp...

Silver chocolate cups, the cover can be used as a saucer? The the three things sticking up from the detachable lid would be feet when the cover was inverted.
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The maker appears to be for Stuller Mfg. which would be the long S in a rectangular frame. The style of the setting puts it squarely in the post WWII period. It may have been a later remount as the style with split, stepped shoulders and the cast, box setting in combination of two-tone gold puts it ...

What Trev discribes is the same as was used here. The engraving looks older than 1800. It is a style that was more popular in New England from 1730-1760, as is the shape of the entire spoon.
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The orange carnelian and red-spotted bloodstone were popular during the late 1800's. As for the lack of chips, that is a plus, though fobs usually did not take much damage. The shame is that someone overcleaned the piece stripping the oxidation from between the swivel which would have added a warm t...