www.925-1000.com

Maybe so, maybe not, but those still are not silver marks. Perhaps an admin can move it to the "Mystery Objects" section where someone will recognize what this item-with-two-holes-on-each-side-possibly-to-be-worn is. And perhaps the OP can engage the services of a professional translator a...

Those are not silver marks.

The mark to the far left seems to be the same shape as the Italian national mark used from 1934 to 1944, but it is very hard to make it out. Please compare: http://www.925-1000.com/Fitalian_marks_01.html The 800 mark would also be typical of Italian flatware. I think that once an administrator moves...

Wikipedia seems to be an excellent source of information on the history of the Amoco logo appearing on the posted items:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoco

I will leave it to our Middle Eastern experts to read the date letter.

Regards
DR

Thank you, RIchard, for providing information on silver content.

Cheers,

David Ross

I would be most concerned about the Chinese characters, as they provide more of an indication of silver content than a makers' or retailers' mark. In the photo provided, the Chinese characters are not clear impressions, which in my mind always raises suspicions. The Chinese mark on the left is the c...

The maker's mark, which is none too clear in the posted photo, appears to be one or two letters of the alphabet. This does not rule out the possibility of a Japanese maker, but it certainly does not offer proof positive of country of origin, either. I would still say Mexico is a strong possibility. ...

I agree with Cheryl, they look like Indian work, probably from the 1920s-30s. My impression is that during the colonial period, Indian silver was often unmarked, perhaps because it was below English sterling standard, even though it might be .800 or .900 silver. Without any marks, the only clues to ...

It would help if the OP would polish the box and post clearer photos, in particular a cropped close-up of the mark. For that matter, if the OP has some provenance linking the box to Malaysia, that might help. A well written post that includes all pertinent information, once uploaded to the site, sho...

My, you certainly do work fast at testing silver!

For the sake of other readers, let me reiterate that yours is a minority opinion, where a postwar ginsei mark is concerned.

DR

Sorry that I have to emend what I wrote above (broke my reading glasses yesterday). You are right, the mark is ginsei "silver-product" or "made of silver," not jungin . There is some debate about whether ginsei marks were used on solid silver objects, but in my experience, ginsei...

Welcome to the Forum. The retailer is Tsuruya Department Store of Kumamoto. Their logo mark is a crane ( tsuru translates to "crane"). According to their homepage (in Japanese) they were founded in 1951. If the link below doesn't work, just Google "Tsuruya Department Store" for a...

Hallmarking is predominantly a European institution. I would not want to categorically state that there is no such thing as an Asian hallmark, but no example of hallmarking in Asia springs to mind. The same could probably be said of American silver. Please refer to the definition of "hallmark&q...

The mark looks very faint in the photo, but it does appear to read jungin .

For the sake of clarity, this is a silver purity mark applied by the maker or retailer, and not a hallmark.

Are there no other marks?

Regards,

DR

I am rather far afield here, but "before 1860" seems too early for a metric-based 900 mark. WIkipedia states that Italy adopted the metric system in 1861, following the lead of Piedmont (see the section "International Adoption"): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_system I am wo...

The writing is Chinese and the form is a Chinese junk.

Are there any marks indicating the maker or that it is silver?

Photos can be deceptive, of course, but from the photos provided I would not think it to be silver.

Regards,

DR

Welcome to the Forum. The box looks to me like modern handwork that comes from India, or possibly Pakistan, Nepal, or Tibet. The lack of marks may be due to a missing foil or paper label. The matching marks on the top and bottom were probably placed there by the worker who soldered the hinges, so th...

Here is the person to ask about the star and the symbol after !:

makkum wrote:The first mark is Seurre 1768 - 1774. That say an Expert.

Please keep the Forum informed on the further sayings of an Expert.

Thank you, Trev, for posting a much clearer image of the marks. I believe the second mark to be the lion found on the Sinhala or lion flag of Sri Lanka. Another version of this mark appears on a tray that is definitely from Sri Lanka, insofar as the tray itself is in the shape of the island of Sri L...

Welcome to the Forum. It is not from China, Japan, or Korea. It looks Middle Eastern to me, or perhaps northern Indian. At first I thought the pictorial mark was the Iraqi national mark (see the World Hallmarks page), but it does not seem to be a match. A close-up photo of the marks would be helpful...