Marks on silver Sabbath candlesticks

[aazul3]

Hello everyone!

New member here - we have in our possession what would appear to be a pair of continental silver Sabbath candlesticks. I had trouble finding any marks whatsoever to begin with, but then I came across three.

The first mark I discovered was a "BK" in very elaborate script on one of the little bits sticking out from the base. Both candlesticks have this.

The other marks were hidden on the top of the base - a number (10; French silver plate? - I tested the candlesticks using the pickling test which would point to the item being silver - the legs which have considerable wear on the bottom do not show any discoloration) and what would either be a set of three letters or a deer's head with a v under it (depending on how you look at the mark) in a lozenge.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :)

Adam

[aazul3]

[aazul3]

I forgot to add an image of the candlesticks!

[dognose]

Hi,

Welcome to the Forum.

Please post images of all of the marks. Embedded images get a far greater response than just posting links.

Trev.

[dognose]

Now I see them:





Trev.

[aazul3]

Thank you embedding the pictures for me Trev! Hopefully someone will know what these are.

[marcondes]

Hi,

It seems brazilian or portuguese candlesticks ca. 1860. By the 10 mark I should say it is brazilian, from Rio de Janeiro. I never saw the BK mark...
Best regards,
Marcondes

[aazul3]

Thank you Marcondes! Very much appreciated.

Yes, upon further research I found some nearly identical ones (slightly different engravings) from Brasil (1850-1870) by Jose Ferreira Guimaraes. The letters on the bottom would seem to be "BR" (registration). 10 would mean they are 833 grade silver (interesting grade!).

I have since polished them and they look beautiful! I will be sure to put up some pics tonight.

[marcondes]

Maybe we could discover more about if you could put photos of the marks of the another candlestick! Even if they are not so good!
Regards,
Marcondes

[aazul3]

Hi Marcondes!

Here are some pics of the candlesticks, all polished up!

I saw the marks for Jose Ferreira on a very similar item, but it differed somewhat. Why do you think this might be the case? Is this from a different period perhaps? (I heard he operated for quite some years).

Thank you for your help!

[aazul3]

I forgot the other registration mark!




Here is a pair of very similar candlesticks - notice the maker's mark looks different:

(admin edit - see Posting Requirements )

Do you have a book of Brazilian hallmarks by any chance? Would be great if we could find out if Jose Ferreira Guimaraes had a mark like this at some stage.

[aazul3]

Here are some other very similar pairs of candlesticks:

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/ ... tails.aspx

(admin edit - see Posting Requirements )

By the way, mine weigh more for some reason (around 480g each).

Regards,

Adam

[aazul3]

Maybe they are by a different maker? I see similar items by different makers (e.g., Luis Antonio Rodrigues).

Regards,

Adam

[aazul3]

Oops, sorry Admin! I posted the link as it contains a clear image of marks (on a very similar item) and I thought it would be good to compare. But I realise that we are not supposed to post links to commercial websites - my apologies. May a post the photo containing marks from the link? (I'm not sure if the item is by Jose Ferreira Guimaraes as the mark looks different).

Kind regards,

Adam

[dognose]

Hi Adam,

That would be OK, as long as there are no copyright issues.

Trev.

[marcondes]

Hi,

Yours candlesticks are very well preserved, with the guilloche all right. As you could see, the shape of yours candlesticks was very common here in Brazil in mid XIXth century. Several makers made them. There is no BR mark in Brazil meaning Brazil. I really don´t know it. Never saw a similar one. In one of the candlestick there is the "10" mark and what seems to be a maker mark. Are they also in the another one? If so, could you take some pic? Unfortunately we have no books on silver marks... There are some marks in portuguese books and very few in brazilian books on silver or antiquities.

Regards,
Marcondes