Five Unknown Marks on Kiddish Cup - Help Please

[Tripoli&Rouge]

Hello,
Can anyone shed any light on these marks which appear on the rim of small, rather crudely made, goblet which I presume to be a Jewish Kiddish Cup?



Thanks,
Tom.

[blakstone]

Extremely difficult to read, but the leftmost mark is the city mark of Bergen, Norway, and the next one over is the mark of Bergen guild warden Peter Michael Blytt, who served in that post 1812-1821. Any deciphering of the rest is probably pure conjecture, though I suspect the last is "13" for the year 1813 rather than the fineness, which was usually 13 1/2 or 13 1/3 lodd.

Given its early 19th century Norwegian origin, then, it is extremely unlikely to be a kiddush cup. Norway's anti-semitic laws at the time were particularly draconian; with very few exceptions, Jews were banned from the country from 1687 to 1851. Even today, there are only about 1,500 Jews living in Norway, which has a total population of nearly 5 million.

As a general rule, I shy away from calling small silver cups or goblets kiddush cups unless unquestionably identifiable as such by their engraving.

Hope this helps!

[Tripoli&Rouge]

Thank you very much for your fast and very informative reply.

[Hose_dk]

mark nr 4 is month mark and most likely Aquarius (vandmanden) 21st January to February 18th

and by the way Norway is not anti simitic. But correct that jews did not realy travel that fahr from mediteranien and 4000 km north.

[Tripoli&Rouge]

Thank you also.