Swedish Teaspoon

[Schmidt-K]

I found this Swedish teaspoon at a charity shop in southern Sweden. It is very light weight and in my opinion of quite poor quality. What is a bit unusual is that it is stamped on the front instead of the back. Is that normal?
It is marked with the three crowns and U5 for 1874. I think the city hallmark states W, and that the master hallmark is stamped either CAS or GAS. The lenght of the spoon is 13,5 cm.

http://imgur.com/hi9R7n4,ThMGOSJ#1
http://imgur.com/hi9R7n4,ThMGOSJ#0

Best regards

Søren

Ps: I wasn't able to attach the photos directly, and I have there fore linked to the photos.

[Hose_dk]

I never click on links.
But I can answer some of the question - yes it is very common that swedish silver is marked on the "wrong" side. To show the marks so everybody knew that this person could afford silver.

by the way - Danish silver is never marked on the visible side.

[Schmidt-K]

Well, that's quite interesting, and might explain why I haven't seen it before. I'm also danish. My first impression of the spoon was, that it was probably pewter, because of the weight, and there fore it sort of makes sense to put the hallmarks on the front side.
That leaves the question of maker and city hallmarks left.
Thanks for the answer.

Best regards
Søren

[dognose]

Hi Søren,

Welcome to the Forum.

I've embedded your mark image:



The marks are not very clear, but it appears to bear the town mark of Vimmerby.

See here for date marks: http://www.925-1000.com/Fsweden_Date_Code.html

Trev.

[Qrt.S]

Like Hose I don't like unknown links. However, my curiosity won this time :-)))

The maker is Carl Adam Svanberg, born 24.6.1819 in Västra Ryds in Sweden. He died 25.11.1889. CAS became master 16.7.1844 and started his business in Eksjö where he marked 1851-1856. Then he moved To Vimmerby (the mark W on the spoon) and marked there 1857-1889. His widow continued the business until 1898.

FYI!
The three crowns marks always indicates Swedish silver in the fineness of not less than 830/1000.

About the marks being on the right or the wrong side of the stem. The answer is that in early days the spoon was set on the table upside-down compared to the current setting. The reason was the people didn't like to have crap and bugs dropping from the ceiling into the spoon's bowl. Therefore the marks were punched on the "wrong" side as we see it today. Sometimes you see old spoons with engravings on the "wrong" side or preferably call it back side of the bowl and stem. The reason is the same, the spoon was set "upside-down" even if it wasn't. The decoration was meant to be observed by the guest on the dinner table. .........I hope you got the point :-)

[Schmidt-K]

Thanks a lot to all three for the help. It is always nice to learn something new, and interesting. Your explanation about why the spoon is marked on the "wrong" side makes sense, and when inspecting it closer I found engravings on both sides. It seems as if someone took a lot of pride in this spoon at some point.
Once again, thanks to all of you!

Søren

[Hose_dk]

Hi Qrt.S
I dont fully agree. The french way of setting the table, was also fashion in Denmark during a short period.
We have discussed this a few times :-))
The idea of not getting something into the bowl - well does it matter whether something drops into the spoons bowl or the backside.

However its strange french marks are invisible. So small.
Norway, Denmark, UK, Holland etc - all put marks on the backside.
Germany, Sweden put them on the front.

At the end of the day - I actually dont know why for sure. I am guessing :-))

[Qrt.S]

Well we are not anymore talking about this spoon but the history of table setting. There you can read about how the spoon has been set on the table through the history. Which way the spoon was on the table can some times also been seen from the spoon itself by looking at the spoon's terminal/tip. If it is slightly bent up (when you take the spoon in your hand) it is meant to be on the table "upside-down". If the terminal is bent down it is set on the table like we set it nowadays. Of course this does no go for all spoons due to different patterns but e.g. the fiddler pattern shows it in some cases.

If you get crap/bugs into the bowl you might get it by mistake into your mouth with the soup (very nice and new aroma ;-)). If the spoon is upside-down the crap cannot fall into the bowl. It will slip from the backside of the bowl to the table. That was the main idea with the upside-down setting.
Believe me dear Hose, believe me!

[Hose_dk]

one more comment - yes the end pointing one or other way could indicate.
But whether one way or other - the marks are still set at the same specific place,
The tradition of setting marks on beakers, bowls, etc its always the same way. When you see a item - in almost 100% you know where the marks are set. In germany, denmark, sweden, norway (England?). In france you sometimes have to search..

well you are right we are off topic :-))