Persian Silver Bowl, please help with marks and ID

[GrannySmith]

Greetings, Silverphiles,

I am interested in learning more about this lovely Persian silver bowl.

I am still having resizing issues and do not want to be a bandwidth hog so I am posting links instead of attaching photos directly.

Bowl in its entirety. It measures approximately 9 inches wide: http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c138/craigsstuff/IMG_1059.jpg

Marks on bottom. I know one number is an 8 but that is all I can decipher: http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c138/craigsstuff/IMG_1056.jpg

Side detail of bowl, I assume these are peacocks?: http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c138/craigsstuff/IMG_1062.jpg

More detail, thicker silver band on rim of bowl: http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c138/craigsstuff/IMG_1060-1.jpg

Thanks so very much for any information you can provide!

[GrannySmith]

P.S. I would also like to know how to clean it up without doing any damage. It does have a few areas of tarnish and other such spots. Should I use a polishing cloth? I have one of those yellow ones from Japan. Is that safe to use?

Thanks for looking!

[oel]

Hello GrannySmith,

Plenty has been written about silver care. Please read;
viewtopic.php?f=34&p=65533#p65533

Oel

[GrannySmith]

Thanks, Oel. That's a very helpful thread. I once sprayed an old, street picked, ash-caked since the 50's, sterling ashtray with Totally Awesome! orange degreaser from the Dollar Tree. I didn't even know the piece was sterling until it was cleaned up, it was so covered and caked, and I never would have tried the cleaner if I had known but it worked so well and so fast too.

I do know that Persian silver is different than sterling silver so I don't think I will try that with this piece. It is not bad, it just needs a bit of a touch up.

[JBA]

Eastern people like their silver black!

I don't have an answer about the makers mark, but one is 84, denoting the purity of the silver. Beware though, this is NOT a guarantee mark as it is in Europe- plenty of plate and low grade silver is deceptively marked 84 in Iran. Your bowl looks like silver, but the mark doesn't prove it.

For what it's worth I think your bowl is mid or even late 20th century, but the work is actually quite fine and considerably better than average. It's a nice piece.

[JBA]

I should also note that the quality of the work is further evidence (but not proof) that the piece is reasonably high grade silver. Usually plate and low grade silver is poorer quality, (but not always). On balance i think your bowl is likely to be silver, but I can't promise.