Austrian coffee spoon 1855

[silverfan]

Hi all,
the "radlpunze" shows that the spoon was produced in 1855, but who was the maker "AR"?
Regards silverfan

[silverfan]

perhaps the Maker's mark reads AB not AR !?
Regards silverfan

[joris]

There are several makers with an AR in an oval or ellipse, none of whom quite seem to match: August Reineck was dead in 1846; Anton Roth received his license in 1856 (one year after the mark on your spoon), and his mark also has a fair amount of empty space between the bottom of the letters and the frame, while the mark in your photo shows the letters very close to the frame; Alois Ruttensteiner was active from 1842 until 1855, which would agree with your mark, but again, the letters in his mark are farther from the edge of the frame, and the top and bottom of the frame are not as parallel as on yours.
If we look at silverfan's suggestion that the letters are AB, however, we find a match: Albert Eduard Böhr, who was active from 1855 until 1876 (and was involved with Funke u. Böhr before 1855, which may have used the AR stamp before 1855, apparently). The frame and position of the letters match well with the mark on your spoon, and the letter B of Böhr's mark has a rather thin spot in the lower right corner; after a few years of polishing it very likely would look more like an R than a B. Böhr's letter A also has the curiously broad serifs on the lower ends, as does your mark.
So - perhaps this solves the mystery :-)
Best wishes!

[silverfan]

thank you very much, joris. For AR I found also other names (without knowing the marks) matching the time around 1855:
Reichhalter, Anton 1800-1856
Richard, Anton 1810-1863
Richter, Anton 1828-1855
Did you look into Neuwirth or Rohrwasser? I don't have these books. Is there a possibility to find the marks in the internet?
Regards silverfan

[joris]

The three other possibilities you list were:

Anton Reichhalter: His mark is a simple AR impressed, with no frame. He made watch cases, rather than spoons.
Anton Richard: I don't find a photograph of any marks for him, but he was a goldsmith and jeweler, which would (I think) tend to exclude him.
Anton Richter: Again, no mark, and he was a maker of watch cases, "Galanteriewaren", and a jewel setter, so spoons were most probably not his area of activity.

Yes, I used both of the Neuwirth books (one is the pocket-sized 'Wiener Gold- u. Siblerschmiede: Punzen 1781-1866' in three volumes, and the large 'Wiener Silber 1781-1866', with photos of the marks in the Hauptpunzierungs- und Probeamt, along with examples from various silver objects.)

There is also a very useful (and inexpensive!) CD available from the MAK, which has multiple photos of the makers' marks, along with short biographies, all known addresses, family names, position in the guild, and so forth, in a searchable database format. The title is 'Wiener Gold- und Silberschmiede von 1871 bis 1921 und ihre Punzen', and is probably still available from the MAK on their website. The ISBN is 3-900688-67-2, if that helps. (I'm not trying to advertise for the MAK, of course! :-) There are a few errors (occasional mixing of "Son" and "Son of", for example, which is obvious from the birthdates, and a few attributions which seem rather surprising), but seeing the photographs of the actual marks is very helpful--just as it would be, say, for variants in coin collecting.

Best wishes!