Hi and welcome to the forum. This is 800 silver from Germany. The crown, the cresent and the 800 are proof. Do not worry about the 800 upside down. This is of no relevance. The person stamping it hold the stamp the wrong way, this is quite common. Have you detected a makers mark? Just search the who...
Dear Theoderich sorry for beeing unclear, I wrote too fast. I didn't want to say the silversmith and the assayer work together. Yes this would be unsusual. What I ment was that the mark is just a 12 loth mark (of a very proud silversmith). So I was assuming the maker showed the task of weighting the...
Hi Theoderich I have not seen a similar mark. To me it does not look like a coat of arms of a town. For me it shows two people, maybe the silversmith and the assayer, jointly checking the item, jointly guaranteeing the 12 loth purity. So I do not think we need to find a town with such a coat of arms...
Hi here a tranlation attempt: "Thank you for your mail. Unfortunately I can answer just now. Your pictured can is really from our shop. It is, as can be seen by the stamp (mark), crafted in 1991 by my husband. The can is 925 Sterling silver, and fine Gold is brazed (fused) on it. This brazing (...
Dear jbplod Welcome to the forum. You make it a little hard for us to help you. Your picture seem to show letters, maybe capital letters. But they are not properly punched or worn off. It seem that part of the puch is outside your very cropped picture. I am usually more successful with unclear or wo...
Dear Blacklobsters "13" was widely used in Germany, the Austrian Empire and Switzerland. I do not think they are Austrian. In 1583 the "13" was not in use in Switzerland. It was common from around 1800 until approximately 1860 - 1880. Then it was replaced by the "800" p...
The spoons are called "Hermenlöffel", Herma Spoons. Silversmith in the Region of Zurich made such spoons in the late 17 century. They usually bear a makers mark and a city or wardein mark, not a "13" Regards
Dear Blacklobster welcome to the forum. Why are you sure the are Swiss? I studied my references for Swiss silver and I can not find a match. Anyway, I would place them in the (late?) 19th century. The oldest Swiss reference I fond for the use of the "13" is from around 1800. Regards Jörg
Hi nilchen You made your post a few days ago and nobody replied. I think everybody is afraid to give incomplete feedback, so also the simple part of your question is not answered. You need to do further research, but let me put you in following direction (I apologize if this is already clear for you...
Hi Elena this item has similar marks. It is identified as being from the Austrian Empire: http://www.925-1000.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=28612&p=70347&hilit=joerg#p70347" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; What do you think? Regards Jörg (Your picture server is cool. There...
To reply on Theoderichs statement: I forgot to consider in 1779 Zurich introduced a system with town mark (the coat of arms), the makers mark and a wardein mark. This was in effect until 1833. I am not aware of spoons from this period which were not marked according this roule. So if the spoon is fr...
"Z" for Zurich is very probable. Johann Melchior II Wirth (1756 - 1830, Master 1783). In all the references he punched the Zurich Coat of arms, not the "Z". See the example from Theoderich. I think it is not him, the spoon is older than his making period. I could not find a 100% ...
A German forum, specialized in heraldics, was able to identify the family crest. It is from a family WEISS in Zug, Switzerland. See here: http://www.chgh.net/heraldik/w/we/weissm.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; This helps to localze the origin, Swiss. No further progress in pinnin...
Hi¨ sorry to disappoint you, your item is silver plated. Alpacca is a trade name for Nickel Silver, also called German Silver. See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_silver" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; It tests for silver because you were testing the silver plated base meta...