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How does one find out the date on these Hanau items? I'm pretty sure that this is made by Schleissner Sohne, but I don't know how to date it. Does anyone know?

The best clue here is the "B & Z" mark of Buchholz & Zelt, New York importers of silver in the 1920's & 30's.

I do not know for sure but is there not also a time frame for when they would have stamped it "Germany"?

Regards-

Byron

The McKinley Tariff Act of 1890 necessitated the addition of the name of the country from which an imported item originated. In 1921, the act was amended to include "Made in" before the country's name.

Regards, Tom

Actually, the ammendment requiring the addition of "Made in" was in 1914; the 1921 proviso required that the name of the exporting country be in English (i.e., "Germany", not "Deutschland"; "Japan", not "Nippon".). But the McKinley Tariff requirements are only guides, not absolutes; there were certainly pieces imported before 1921 stamped "Germany". It should also be remembered that imports from Germany would have been highly unlikely during the two World Wars.

Given all this, I would guess that this item dates sometime around 1910. (Buchholz & Zelt were trading as Otto Buchholz & Co as early as 1904; I don't know when the name changed to Buchholz & Zelt.)

Hi Blakstone,
Thanks for the correction, I think those incorrect dates are in a few other posts on the forum, will have to track them down and edit.

It should also be noted that glued on paper labels seemed to fulfill the requirements of the act. I've never seen one on a piece of silver, but have on older ceramics, glass & other types of metalware. I suspect the die stamping of the country name may have been discretionary.

Regards, Tom

Hi,

I came across a couple of paragraphs in an English exporters catalogue that may explain why some items, religous ones at least, are not marked as expected.

Duty Free

Extracts from Tariff Act 1930 (USA)

Paragraph 1773.....Regalia, where specially imported in good faith for the use and by the order of any society, incorporated or established solely for religious purposes, and not for sale, are free. The term 'Regalia' as herein used shall be held to embrace only such emblems as may be worn upon the person or borne in the hand, during public exercises of the society or intitution.

Paragraph 1774....Alters, pulpits, communion tables, baptismal fonts, shrines or parts of any of the foregoing, and statuary imported in good faith for presentation (without charge) to, and for the use of any Corporation or Association organised and operated exclusively for religious purposes, are free of duty.

So presumably if articles such as these were free of duty, then the 'Made in' stamp would have been omitted, saving the risk of damage to such articles that may occur with such stamping.

Trev.