Lodigt Standard Spoon, Maker GP & Sunburst Mark

Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland
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Essexboy Fisher
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Posts: 297
Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2013 5:17 pm

Lodigt Standard Spoon, Maker GP & Sunburst Mark

Post by Essexboy Fisher »

Hello, I saw an interesting teaspoon on line that I thought could be a low cost educational project for me. I knew the "13 1/2 " mark it carried indicated likely "Germano-Nordic" origin. There was a maker's mark, "GP" , but simple checking on line did not suggest an a silversmith working within my guess at the date of the spoon. I felt it was a second half of the 19th century spoon. It did have another mark on though, which looked like a possible "sunburst" but I wanted a better look at. The spoon is mine now and below is my composite image of it.

Image

I have learnt 2 things with my spoon so far. From the Forum I learnt that the Lodigt, Lod, Loth system of silver standard numbers is based on the number 16. Forgive me Scandinavian experts but I think my light bulb moment is possibly worth repeating for other less experienced collectors like myself.
In this system:
16 = 1000 parts silver (or 100% silver) and 13 1/2 tells us that the silver content of a thus marked item is made of 13 1/2 parts silver and 2 1/2 parts copper. It is thus made of 844/1000 parts silver or 84.4% silver.

The second thing I found out about my spoon is that it is likely Norwegian and made by a Trondheim based silversmith. The extra mark on my spoon is not as I had thought but it is a 5 petal flower. This flower with 5 petals is the city mark for Trondheim and versions of it had been used as the mark for a couple of centuries. There are very few references on line about the Trondheim "flower". I did find an image to compare my spoons mark with, shown below. Surprisingly there is no key or title to go with the image on that web page so I am guessing?

Image

This is the reference http://www.925-1000.com/Fnorway_marks3.html#1

What I do not know yet is who is the "GP" maker of my new spoon. Hopefully our Forum experts can suggest a maker and possibly generate a close date for the spoon.
Fishless
Qrt.S
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Joined: Fri Feb 27, 2009 9:32 am
Location: Helsinki Finland

Re: Lodigt Standard Spoon, Maker GP & Sunburst Mark

Post by Qrt.S »

Trondheim it is, not doubts about that. The maker GP is Georg Fredrik Adolph Pefferkorn. He became master 31.5.1837. He was also the last alderman in the Trondheim laugh (guild) 1865-1869. He died 12.4.1880. Also the mark GFP was used.
Essexboy Fisher
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Posts: 297
Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2013 5:17 pm

Re: Lodigt Standard Spoon, Maker GP & Sunburst Mark

Post by Essexboy Fisher »

Thank you Qrt.S for your answer to my query and the added information. Looks like my guess at the date was at least in the right century. If Georg F. A. Pefferkorn was the last alderman for the Trondheim laugh in 1869 does that imply the flower head mark would not have been used after 1870 as there was no one to control the "standard" or would senior silversmiths like him have just carried on as previously? Would there be a record of when the "GP" mark or "GFP" was used and also whether Georg F. A. Pefferkorn produced "work" in the last decade of his life? I do understand that 150 year old information sometimes does not exist.
Fishless
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