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could you help me with this worn-out marker mark ?

Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 4:15 pm
by polo_fer_lauren
Hello everyone!!!

Here I come this time with a German piece! In my opinion, it's a lovely saltcellar.
Image

The maker mark is extremely damage. Someone may identify it. If so, please let me know.

Image

Please, confirm if such piece is a "Biedermeier style" one.

Thank you in advance.

Fer.

Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2008 5:23 am
by Doos
Hi,

It's not biedermeier, more eclectic.

Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2008 6:27 am
by polo_fer_lauren
Thank you very much for your contribution.

Fer.

Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 3:46 am
by Bahner
Hello, don't really know what mark I am seeing here, but the style cries Hanau. Pieces in that "neo empire" style became popular around 1900 and were still in production in the 1950ies and 1960ies. Best wishes, Bahner

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 8:00 am
by polo_fer_lauren
Thank you Bahner, your help is very appreciate!

..........but, I am not familiarize with German silver so I am very confuse about Hanau. When you say "cries Hanau" are you saying that may be a fake?, Was all the produccion from Hanau fakes?.

Thank you again.

Fer.

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 4:35 am
by fatso
I have few Hanau pieces so let me try and answer: Hanau, a german silversmithing center, were a law unto themselves, and an extraordinarily successful at that. They used to mimic other german towns marks, they would export to Great Britain their silverware and sell successfully. Please remember, those were the times(XIXc) when the compulsory mark Made in Germany, introduced at british manufacturers behest, was to denote an inferior product. Well, the public thought otherwise and Hanau silversmiths did not give a damn about it, they have applied the markings as they thought it fit.

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 5:36 pm
by polo_fer_lauren
Thank you Fatso!!

Well! Please, accept my apologize for my great ignorance in this matter.

I have read on the web that the Hanau silver industry chose mark its output with fantasy marks. In my opinion my saltcellar is not marked with these ones.
All the silversmith in Hanau used to use these fantasy marks?

In any case, could you tell me a damning evidence that saltcellar is Hanau and not simply German?. Used to Hanau manufacture marked its pieces with the national mark of a crescent moon and the crown?

Thank again everyone.

Fer.

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 5:55 pm
by fatso
I wouln't say that to call your silver Hanau-like would be "damning".
It was a genuine silver after all, albeit rather mass produced and those
Hanau chaps did cater to the lower end of the market. Say- west german Volkswagen to british Rolls Royce some 50 years ago. And we all know
how it all ended, that competition with the cars: VW took RR to the cleaners.

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 6:22 pm
by admin
Both "mass produced" and "lower end" are misconceptions. Like any silver center, the silversmiths of Hanau catered to all sectors of the market, providing objects for both palaces and middle class households. Yes, like Providence, Newark, Birmingham & Paris, they produced some mass produced trash, but they also produced a fair amount of remarkably fine, multiple and one of a kind, objects. The fact that they could, and did, mess about with markings really has no relevance to the quality of the work produced there.

Regards, Tom

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:18 am
by polo_fer_lauren
Thank you both of you, your help is very appreciate.

Fer.

Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 8:00 pm
by admin
Image
Possibly Karl Kurz of Hanau

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 9:40 am
by polo_fer_lauren
Thank you very much!!!!!.

Fer.