Ceremonial Cups, Dinosaur and DL Mark?

[Rubbie]

Hello, and help please.
I have picked up two delightful ceremonial cups, possibly from a church origin, but I can find no clue to their marks anywhere on the Net.

Apologies for the poor quality of the photo. The top mark is an 8 inside a diamond, presumably a date mark. The one on the left is a long-necked animal which, under a 60-power scope, immediately suggests the form of a dinosaur. Possibly a dragon, I suppose. The third mark is two intertwining stalks with leaves on the end, surrounding a central stalk with leaves on the end, with a D. to the left and an L. to the right, presumably the maker's mark. Also, as seen in the photo, are the numbers 40962.

Any ideas? I look forward to your expertise.

Tony B

[Neruda]

Am I right in thinking the other cup would have been attached to the other side of the vertical column? If so, I have seen similar objects which were French 19th century and apparently used as salt cellars.

Again, looking at your photos I see no trace of silver plating - the metal looks more like pewter. These have their own marks - about which I'm afraid I know little, but it might be a step in the right direction!

[Rubbie]

Thanks! Hmm, pewter, eh? Now that you mention it, probably so.

A brief look at pewter marks on the Net shows nothing like what I have, but apparently pewter marks were much less controlled than silver.

Thanks a bunch, you were a big help!

Tony

[Rubbie]

By the way, each cup has a small solder mark where it was attached to something, but they were not joined together. They are each about six inches tall, so maybe too big for salt cellars.

[admin]

Rubbie,
Your marks are French silverplate marks. As Neruda mentioned, the form is commonly used for salts, but when so large the cups often held glass cruets. Both cups would have originally been joined to the central shaft for ease of passing down the table.
When a piece of plate shows absolutely no sign of it's silver coating, it is possible that the silver has been electro-chemically removed to recover the silver for bullion. It is done with the same process used (with some changes) to electroplate a piece. Hard to imagine it is worthwhile, but at times that silver bullion is high, I guess so. Sometimes these stripped pieces make there way onto the secondary market.

Regards, Tom

[Rubbie]

Thank you, Tom!

Any idea of specifically what the marks mean?

I'd heard of electroplating, of course, but electro-removal?! Who'd have thought it. Is there an easy test to see if this is tarnished silver or stripped base metal I'm looking at?

Tony

[outwest]

Polish it. ;)