Postby oel » Thu Dec 29, 2016 4:54 am
Hi, early 19th century sugar sifter spoon.
The maker's mark resembles a tree for; Carel Boogaert II, born 1782 and registered silversmith 1805-1833 (died) in Amsterdam. Known for small silver-work, tea spoons. Son of Jan Boogaert & Alida Ouisière, a family line of silversmiths. Town mark for Amsterdam, 2nd standard silver, with year letter Y for 1807. At the end of the spoon's stem or finial we see another tax mark, the crowned O; In March 1807, by order of the King of Holland, a new hallmark law on the working, importing and sale of gold and silver objects, including the levy of duty on the same was implemented. Silver smiths, retailers and silver- shop holders could, for a few weeks, bring in their old hallmarked and previous made silver & gold objects and have those objects stamped with the crowned O, the capital letter O for the Dutch word 'Onbelast=dutyfree; free of charge and no tax Duty.
After this period, a tax duty had to be paid and the crowned B was applied, the capital letter B for the Dutch word 'Belasting'=Tax. After the 18th of April 1807, officially no work with old hallmarks was allowed to be sold without the crowned O, unless tax was paid and the object stamped with the crowned B. NB. Many variations of the crowned O were used in this short period and the crowned O often has been faked for duty dodging and other reasons. Sometimes we see the crowned B in combination with the crowned V for foreign/imported articles. All duty and import mark give no guarantee of the standard or fineness of the silver/gold used.
It appears the sugar sifter bowl and stem are attached at a later stage, perhaps marriage hence the solder marks.
Best,
Oel.