13.KR'A'NZCH1914 WhatsIt

[Rarest One]

WhatsIt
Hope someone can help identify my recent acquisition. I’ve never seen anything like it. On the front is a crest and front bottom is 13.KR'A'NZCH 1914. The web provides info on New Zealand aircraft and Christchurch NZCH Union National Peasants movement but nothing else, anywhere.

Global Measurements: 8.25" tall x 3.63" wide
Weight: 2 lbs (feels heavy, actually)
Metal inside: slate-grey, a magnet does not stick
Seams: outside only
Artwork: detailed outside, indentations inside (not detailed)
Silverplate: 1/32" minimum and 2/32" maximum

DETAILS
When it arrived I became very disheartened because: it looked like thick slate-grey raw metal (no silver left on it); there are many small and some not-so-small holes on the top 2/3 of the object, some visible only from the inside (they don’t go all the way through to the front); and there is evidence in 4 locations where something has broken off, the stumps are slate-grey in colour. None of this was in the description. Evidently not meant to be actually used as a vase?

But the artwork is wonderful. It looks like someone actually painted a mural and wrapped it into a vase shape. Some of the boulders, branches, flowers and mountains look like an oil painting except the artist applied with a spatula globs of silver instead of oil paint. Riveting, makes you just want to look and look and touch it all the time. And the silver is different also. Unlike English and American (only likes to be touched with gloves) this silver loves to be handled. It quickly warms to the touch and glows more and more deeply the more contact with the skin.

But the holes and stumps shot me into a slump, I decided I’d been fooled, that the thing was junk.

On the way to the garbage my ancient bottle of Haggarty Silver Dip screamed at me from the laundry room. Never before have I been screamed at by a bottle of Silver Dip, well, any bottle actually.

So I dabbed a boulder on the front and *pif* the tarnish dissolved before my eyes. White silver. I didn’t do that again. My old Cape Cod Cloth quickly carnated moth-to-Monarch, as you will see. The tarnish wasn’t very bad at all, there are no spots tarnished completely through. Looks and behaves more like dirt than tarnish. Maybe its sashes are simply old ashes?

TOP & INSIDE
When the Monarch appeared so did what look like seams on the outside corners, the top rim and the base, yet there are none on the inside (the corners are softly rounded inside). The top rim is 1/8" of what looks like a bead of silver applied to the top inside of the artwork after the artwork was bent around to form the object, then everything (on the top) filed smooth. It looks like a right handed soul held the base between the legs and filed the top as a last step; the file marks are not "standard" and cross completely from the most inner to most outer regions including crossing the seam where the artwork joins the 1/8" rim.

The Cape Cod cloth made the inside metal go black, said black wipes off somewhat with paper towel but the result does not look polished afterwards like the outside. The indentations on the inside match the artwork on the outside (for example the crest). Even tho the artwork and rim in the following pic are out of focus it remains clear the width of those sections. File marks run clear across both sections.


HOLES
And the holes, I need help understanding those, also, because I have experienced some deep pit marks on some very old tarnished plate and always the damage surrounding the pit, after thorough cleaning, remains even if only a wee spec. But there is no such thing in this case. The holes are on the inside, some don’t even go all the way through to the outside. There are indentations from the artwork on the inside, a fine example is the crest.


FRONT
Seams are clearly visible in the following pic, I’ve added arrows to draw attention to them and the file marks beside/over the seams. Also I have labeled the 4 stumps where something has broken off. I have placed the labels for Stump1 and Stump2 in the direction of the tear so the viewer can imagine the direction of what was attached. This pic also displays the Mark quite well. This angle of the crest shows the many little bubbles all over it, there are none of these bubbles anywhere else. It is the boulder labeled *pif* beside and descending from Stump2 (on the left side) that received the Haggarty *pif* treatment (it looks slightly brighter).

Surrounding Stump4 is captured what looks like silver plate (to me). When I rub my thumb around the stumps the edges are hard and sharp.


The crest is neither centered nor perfectly symmetrical, evidently eyeballed.

THE MARKS
If you look carefully at the Marks in the above and following pic you will see shading in such a way that there is no doubt the marks are from 2 separate slightly embossed (raised) stamps, with an indented section between the two measuring 2.5/32". The first Mark is 13.KR’A’NZCH. The Z isn’t as deep as the other characters and numbers. Could the 13. be a B? The second Mark is 1914.


TIA...
The more I get to know this object the more I hope it isn't junk. Please take me out of this misery. Any input you feel to provide will be greatly appreciated.

[Bahner]

Hello, can't add much info, but two things came to my mind when I saw this.

This is probably not silver and maybe not even plate. This looks like pewter, made in the classical mode of casting, the mould being made of fine sand. If there are lumps in the sand or if there are air bubbles during casting, one gets these holes one can see on the finished piece.

Could it be that the inscription actually reads "Kränzchen" and that the last two letters are incompletely struck ? "Kränzchen" is a colloquial German word for people meeting socially to talk, drink coffee, play games together and the like. It is often - not always - used when women meet.

Best wishes, Bahner

[Rarest One]

Bahner, you appear to be correct! I've made another close up and added the EN and *wow* it's really easy to see them in the original! You spotted it right away! I can now see them slightly but they are clearer in the pic. Do you know who could have made it?

But why the 13? And why the 1914, was that really the year it was made? Or could it have been made prior and used on a particular date/event?

The Marks may not be 2 separate stamps. The region of the EN is slightly higher because something has been added in order to strike those 2 letters. So actually the stamp reads as I've now noted in the Subject line: 13.KR'A'NZCHEN1914. Does this mean the stamp (or mark) wasn't an amateur?

Were those woman's meetings like a Bridge party, and if so, what did they do ... play Bridge (or a game), have coffee and sweets and stamp an art object for the Winner/s?

If it's not silver plate why is it shiny like silver? Why is there a thin shiny silver-looking coating?

And why were the EN characters removed? And how?

Thank you SO much for your input, Bahner!

[carling]

I'm only guessing but the word Kränzchen also means a small wreath or posy so perhaps the the item was some sort of receptacle for flowers. 13 might be a pattern number.

The only way to find out if it is silver is to test it or ask a jeweller to test it for you. I would guess that it is some sort of alloy commonly referred to as "white metal".

Regards/carling

[Bahner]

Hello, I believe the mark was simply badly struck, I don't think that some bothered to remove two letters. The 13 is certainly no pattern number. "13." with a dot means "the thirteenth" (time). So whoever met, they did so for the 13th time in 1914 and this piece was made to commemorate that. It may have been made some time before that. The naturalistic, floral style would point at the years shortly after 1900. As 1914 is also the year of the outbreak of the WW I, it seems a remote possibility, that they had met for the last time in 1914 and that the piece was made in commemoration after the war. But without further info one can only speculate. Maybe the piece is silverplate, I cannot tell from the pics. Best wishes, Bahner

[Rarest One]

Hi carling and Bahner. Great input! You've moved me to action.

Today I took the thing to a jeweler shop of renown in our city and 2 jewelers there examined it. They were very excited about the item, saying they’d never seen anything like it. They didn’t think it is junk, on the contrary. One said what springs to mind when considering the date (1914) and looking at it is that it is a Jewish item signifying “a well of hope” because it looks like a well with flowers growing upwards.

One saw the letters EN faintly, both saw the rise (bump) where the EN characters are located. Use of the loop confirmed that the mark is one (1) stamp that says 13.KRANZCHEN1914 with the EN characters not perfectly struck. Because of the stamp they don’t think it was made by an amateur.

The base (which he said was the same metal as the rest of the object) was tested with acid and immediately the metal bubbled and turned green. The conclusion was, therefore, that the base metal is not silver, not pewter, most likely lead. I was shown a wax ring mould, which I was informed is what a mould looks like; and shown how it functions. Also was shown a silverplate serving piece with broken off handles, which I was informed is the same situation with the stumps on my item (the stumps looked identical, except mine were smaller of course). They didn’t know anything about making moulds out of fine sand.

They did see the thick, hard plate (especially surrounding Stump4) and stated they believe it to be silver plate. They also confirmed that the seams had been hand filed by a right handed smith (as I described earlier).

Finally, the bubbles on the crest were examined with the loop and pronounced to be “perfectly normal” (whatever that means).

So, hopefully this info helps you?