Please help identify maker, art nouveau shoe buckles

[IEva]

Hi, I´m new here, and have signed up because the Need To Know has been nagging me for years. I have collected some antiques in Lithuania, thats where I come from, among them this pair of shoe buckles. They have never been cleaned, I do not know the composition of the metal, or who made them. The one sure thing is that they are not modern reproductions. Can anyone help determine the origin? Thank you.

[admin]

Hi & Welcome,
This is no more than a guess, but I've been playing with this in google translations and found that " i Ska." would translate to "& Co." in Polish. The mark would then be "P. & Co." and of Polish origin. However, I suspect that "i Ska" may have a similar translation in other eastern Eur. languages.

Regards, Tom

[dognose]

Hi,

Just a shot in the dark, but I have only noted the 1/0 mark on WMF products, and if I am not mistaken, did they not own Fraget at Warsaw for a period at the start of the 20th century?

Trev.

[IEva]

I really apreciate your comment, I was so thrilled to even receive an answer, let alone something that rings true, due to gegraphic proximity. No, not in all eastern european languages it would be the same, but I will look for a posible maker in Poland and maybe Check Republic, which was proliferous in producing pieces in this period and is a slavic language, like Polish. This looks like fun- thank you very much.

[IEva]

OK, more usefull news, I just looked up WMF, and found that the marks mean: M= brass base metal. I/0= standard silver plate thickness, on a WMF piece.
I will see if I can find a lot more about WMF. Right now, I do not know what the letters stand for, except that its a manufacturer.

Thank you so much, Trevor.

[admin]

As there is some resemblance, you may want to run a photo of it passed this organization. There is a contact link for authentication on the page. May be way off target, but probably worth the little effort it would take.

http://www.muchafoundation.org/MFoundation.aspx

[admin]

Hi,
Found them thanks to trev's clue. R. Plewkiewicz i Ska, Warsaw. They were taken over by WMF in 1886 and became a subsidiary c.1900.
The design is likely to be one from WMF's own atelier, headed during this period by Albert Mayer.
Regards, Tom

[Doos]

Hi,

I'm not easily impressed, but this was some good detective work.
Well done,

Alain

[IEva]

Hello,
I have been looking a t a lot of work marked by Roman Plewkiewicz in Warsaw in XIX/XX, the mark is always "Plewkiewicz w Warszawie".
(admin edit - see Posting Requirements )

But I cant find a single example of the abreviated version, "P. i Ska". I wish I could, but no such luck.
Thanks eveyone.

Ieva

[IEva]

I finally found it: