German Tea Pot Silver 925

[nilchen]

Hello,

I bought this tea pot. I dont know the silversmith. Also it has quite a few hallmarks. Marked on the base and in the lid. Maybe somebody can tell me:

-When it was made? Does the design have certain name? (the finsih looks strange has kind of etched lines on back..)
-Who made it?
-And what do all the hallmarks mean?

Teapot is quite heavy 1280 gramms. 925 Silver. The last two links are from the hallmarks.

http://tinypic.com/r/2zr1eth/6

http://tinypic.com/r/nld4js/6

http://tinypic.com/r/4g58b6/6

http://tinypic.com/r/du1ip/6

many thanks
nilchen

[Joerg]

Hi nilchen

You made your post a few days ago and nobody replied. I think everybody is afraid to give incomplete feedback, so also the simple part of your question is not answered. You need to do further research, but let me put you in following direction (I apologize if this is already clear for you, you checked and and did not success):
I think your item is Bauhaus style, pretty pure Bauhaus style. I would place it in the time frame 1920 to 1933. The style of the makers mark are typical Bauhaus. Unfortunately, I do not have a reference book for silver mark from the Bauhaus, but check the library.
To answer your question about the style check the Wikipedia article about the Bauhaus. Here the English version:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus
and here the German version:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus
As a start check following reference:
Book is in Dutch, German and English: Duits zilver na Bauhaus
In the "Bayrischen Staatsbiblithek" in Munich
http://www.bsb-muenchen.de/index.php

Some hours in the library could bring you to the solution. Or some members of this forum have a Bauhaus reference.

If I am right with my guess and it is Bauhaus, then: congratulation. Congratulation anyway, the item is beautiful.

Regards

Jörg

[nilchen]

Hallo Jörg,

many thanks for the information. I was looking also in the bauhaus direction, but couldnt find the same or similar piece..... I just ordered the book, maybe I can find more information in here. You said the hallmarks would be similar to bauhaus. Do you have any links or catalogues of bauhaus marks?

If anybody else has more suggestions, please let me know.

VIELEN DANK aus München

Nilchen

[Bahner]

Hello, the best book on the metalwork from the Bauhaus is "Die Metallwerkstatt am Bauhaus", edited by Klaus Weber (co-director of the Berlin Bauhaus museum) and first published in 1992. It gives an almost complete overview of the metal objects made at the Bauhaus. The books also contains a few marks as used on metal objects from the Bauhaus. The mark on the teapot here is not documented by Weber. The style of the teapot is inconsistent with all metal objects made at the Bauhaus. I seriously doubt whether this has anything to do with the Bauhaus. The style is much more consistent with objects made around 1960-1970 (or even later). As to the marks - when I saw this pot for the first time last year my first thought was: the halfmoon, crown and numbers were added later, this piece originally is not German. The marks are unlike the marks used by small German workshops on silver objects. But of course I have not seen them all, so I might be very wrong there. Looking at the marks again I am still doubful about the German origin. Well ... Best wishes, Bahner

[nilchen]

Hallo Bahner,

thank you for the info. Yes I have the book from Weber. I actually contacted him for this piece and is definitely not bauhaus.
Maybe it was just done by a smaller local silversmith. Our silvermith z.b. has also very interesting hallmarks, wich if I didnt know wóuld be very difficult to trace.

regards to Berlin

I love the Bauhaus Archiv and Bröham Museum!! If would live there would be going to these museums once a month ;) Was there in Sept 2011. really great!

all the best
mike