Postby blakstone » Sat May 16, 2009 11:36 pm
According to the recent definitive study done by the Germanischen Nationalmuseums, this cursive "N" was used from after 1820 to the end of the Nuremburg guild in 1868.
The maker "FB" is Paulus Friedrich Bierfreund (1764-1816). He was apprenticed 1777-1781 to his father, goldsmith Georg Nicolaus Bierfreund (1714-1784) and became a master in 1796. His widow, Margaretha Magdalena Heuchel, continued his workshop until her death in 1823. The marks, therefore, indicate that your beaker was made ca. 1820/23 under the directorship of the Widow Bierfreund.
Ref: Karin Tebbe, et al., Nürnberger Goldschmiedekunst 1541-1868 (Nuremburg: GNM, 2007), maker #67, city mark #BZ51