Need some help with silver marks

[AGHEAD]

I have several different pieces of silver with the following marks.




Confused to who or where these marks come from- Hanau?

[AGHEAD]

I was also going to mention that there is some variation in the fleur de lis mark. The picture below shows the same two marks but the third mark appears to have a C in the fleur de lis mark.

[amena]

Your pieces are probably Italian
The fleur de lys has been used by several states in the first half of 1800 (Parma, Florence, Pisa, Siena). In particular in Tuscany was used fleur de lys with the letter G and a number indicating the title.
At that time the 800 mark was not in use, and it was probably added at a later time.
I have a saucer that bears the mark 800 and the same hallmark like a daisy that you see to the right of the second picture.
I did not find that hallmark on any of my books.
I am very interested to know if anyone has news about.
Regards
Amena

[Bahner]

Hello, believe that the answer leads back to the history of occupied Czechoslovakia during WW II.

The flower-like mark with 7 dots is that of Sandrik in Dolne Hamre, Slovakia (though Sandrik also had an office in Prague, though no production facilities there - at least not to my knowledge or at least not at that time). After the German occupation of the CSR the country was devided into the "Slovak Republic", (a Nazi sattelite state) and into the "Protektorát Čechy a Morava" ("Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia").

Silver objects imported into that Protectorate bore an import mark - the fleur de lis flower mark we see here, lacking the small "c" this import mark used to have earlier when the CSR still existed. The 800 standard was common in regions that formerly had belonged to the Austrian Hungarian monarchy, as Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia did.

So: Sandrik flatware, 800/1000 fine; imported into the "Protectorate" in the years 1942-45.

Regards, Bahner

[Bahner]

An afterthought - that applies to holloware (or is that hollo[u]ww[/u]are ?) as well. Not sure if we are seeing pieces of flatware here. B.

[dognose]

Hi,

Sandrik are still in business today, but it appears that they are no longer involved with silverware production, just stainless steel.



Trev.

[AGHEAD]

Thanks for the information. All of the items are hollow ware (platters, plates, goblets, etc...). The one part that has me confused is the Fluer de lis with and without the conjoining "C". The items with the conjoining "C" mark are significantly higher quality, really well made, heavy, excellent items. All have the same maker's mark. Once again thanks for you help.

[amena]

There was a good reason why I could not find this mark in my books of Italian silver marks.
I never imagined that my saucer could be Slovak, the seller sold it as Italian.
Thanks Bahner for the valuable information.
Amena

[historydetective]

2 follow-up questions: is a tray bearing the Sandrik rose and "800" in a rectangle and the fleur-de-lis without a conjoined C (like the marks pictured at the top of this query) a piece made 1942-1945, or is it a tray made even decades earlier that was just imported into the Protectorate between 1942-1945, and if the answer is the latter, then why no state marks for the earlier period?? If the answer is the former, then how is it possible that so much expensive, commodity- and labor-consuming (luxury) silver was being produced in the hardest-hit part of Europe during the darkest days of WWII???

Secondly, my tray bearing the 3 marks I mention above also has a 6-pointed star, and no, it's not a Star of David because there are no internal intersecting lines, just the ouline of the edges of the star, and the rays of the star are stylized, not like the perfectly geometric rays of a Star of David. What does this additional tiny mark mean? It's on the backside of the tray, whereas the aforementioned 3 marks are on the frontside in the same corresponding area, the end of the tray.

[oel]

Hi,

Could you please be so kind to provide us with an image of the 6-pointed star and other marks?


Oel.

[AG2012]

Sandrik factory in Hodritsch, 1898.




Robert Berks opened the factory in 1895 on the property owned by Johanes Sandrik (therefore the name) and designed the rose trade mark after the coat of arms of Geramb family (previous owners of the mine in Hodritsch).
I have seen nice art nouveau pieces by Sandrik but underestimated them because they were either silver plate or ``Alpacca Silber``. Then I saw Sandrik in Dorotheum Vienna auction house and learned they were designed by Jan Peterka, a graduate from the Wiener Kunst Schule (Vienna Art School).

[historydetective]

Thanks for the pics, AG2012. I am still working on the pics of the marks on my tray, but I had it spectrometer tested extensively this week with a $20,000 spectrometer, and it is good 800 silver, so that's one concern put to bed. The goldshop owner was salivating to melt it b/c it's so freakishly heavy/heavy gauge, hehehe, but don't worry: it's safely back home.

[AG2012]

Well done,historydetective! Everyone is buying and melting. How China Will Drive Silver to $250/oz
http://www.gold-eagle.com/article/how-c ... lver-250oz
Merciless destruction; I managed to save Garrard tea set in pristine condition meant to be sold as scrap metal - fortunately wooden handle was still there.
Have a nice day

[Bahner]

Hello, would that designer be Jan Kotera, architect of the Peterka house in Pague ? The Dorotheum is VERY liberal in ascribing objects to certain designers. I wonder if there is any authentic source of the time for that assumption ... Best wishes, Bahner

[AG2012]

Jan Peterka (1871-1938)
Jan KotÄ›ra (1871— 1923)
Born the same year - curious; but Jan Kotera is too famous to be confused with J.Peterka.
Btw. on my Jugendstil Zuckerdose the mark is SZANDRIK in Hungarian spelling because the factory was actually in the Kingdom of Hungary until 1918 when Alsó-Hámor village was included into Czechoslovakia and was renamed Dolne Hámre.So, anything marked Sandrik should be dated after 1918.