I just found a small, very plain, silver bowl with two tiny European hallmarks in the bottom of the bowl (not on the back, but as you look into the bowl).
The first is 800 in an oval, but both the 800 and the line creating the oval are stamped in. It is not an oval depression with a raised 800. Next to the oval is a shield shape...again, stamped as an outline...that has a line dividing the shield into a top and bottom half. AM is stamped in the top half and the type style of the AM is very plain, straight lines. In the bottom half of the shield is something that looks kind of like four "digs" with an engraver, each "dig" creating a sort of irregular triangular shape. The four triangles point to the center, making a crude four leaf clover, flower or even a cross shape. The bottom triangle is smaller than the top and side triangles, and may be just a scratch or something.
I know that a lot of European countries use an 800 standard, and I've searched through my "International Hallmarks on International Silver collected by Tardy" but I can't find any 800 mark that has a stamped oval around it. I can't see any vestige of a German "moon and crown". I don't know if the shield mark with AM and the other mark is a maker's mark or assay office mark. My guess is that the bowl dates from 1950 or later, and perhaps this is a modern simplified mark for Germany or another European company that is not shown in my Tardy's.
I looked through the German and Dutch marks on this site, but didn't see anything that looked like this. The bowl was found at an estate sale and there were a lot of items that were a lot of German souvenirs, so my guess is these people traveled there or had friends/relatives who sent them thing from Germany. I didn't even see the marks in the bowl until I had it home because they are so tiny. I was searching for marks on the back or around the outside edge, when I saw the two tiny dents inside the bowl. I'd just like to know where the bowl came from and about how old it is. Thanks for any information anyone can provide.