Odd 1896 Birmingham Hallmark Cartouches

[Granmaa]

These are the marks from a silver medal. The date is probably 1896, Birmingham. Has anyone seen this shape of cartouche before, and is there a reason for it?

Miles

[paulh]

Hello Miles,

That looks like some kind of distortion caused after hallmarking. Has the medal had an engraving erased? This might cause the surface to spread.

Paul

[Granmaa]

No erasure that I can see. The post hallmarking working distortion can be seen in the makers marks. Surely it can't have formed the strange spikey cartouches of the hallmarks.

Miles

[admin]

Hi,
Wondering if the blank disk was die stamped into a decorated lid after it had been hallmarked. It is the only plausible reason I can think of for the distortion.
Regards, Tom