A Toughie To Figure Out -

[terri232]

This item tests for sterling but I have no idea as to its origin - any ideas?

[oel]

Why not show us an image of the complete item?
The item could reveal more.

Peter

[terri232]

It's a tea strainer on a stand - don't have a picture!

[oel]

Are you sure it is solid silver and not silver plated?

Peter.

[terri232]

It is sterling and passes the acid test

[Traintime]

As in you dug out a chunk of metal from well below the surface? Might want to read all the threads on just how lousy surface chemical testing is.

[Aguest]

India has many, many different written languages, and this reminds me of one of those languages, I researched the Mughal Empire and I came across a few inscriptions on silver objects which were written in languages with letters similar to these. :::

Best guess I can come up with, but pictures of the item might help too. :::::::

[terri232]

August - Can you give me any links so that I can check the markings? Thanks -

[Aguest]

I just get a general "feeling" that the hallmark is using letters from one of the hundreds of different written languages of India, many of which have completely fallen out of use so nobody even remembers how to write the letters anymore, if you search for "Mughal Silver Inscriptions" you will find pieces of silver from the Mughal empire which have similar letters. :::

Another kingdom in India was the "Travancore Kingdom" and you might find similar letters there. :::

Seeing the tea strainer might take me in a different direction, but if all we have is this hallmark, the place to start would be India, and then maybe I would consider Burma or Siam or Indonesia, it's going to be difficult for sure. :

[terri232]

[Aguest]

If you search for "Anglo Indian Sterling Silver Tea Strainer and Drip Bowl Unusual" you should see a form very similar to your form, and although it doesn't prove the case, it is so similar such that I would now concentrate on India during the time of British Colonial Rule, I really think that is the right track for you to go down. :::

It is an unusual form, I've never seen anything like it before, it's kind of like a hybrid between a bedside-candlestick and a tea-strainer-with-drip-bowl ::