Austrian Serving Spoon (late 19th century)

[Aguest]

Hello from the silver shack.

I found an Austrian Serving Spoon and I believe it is late 19th century.
The mark seems to indicate a fineness of .800, but when it was tested it scored very high content of silver, at least .925 and more like .935 or .950.

Why would a mark for .800 test higher than .800? Did some spoons just have more silver content, purely by chance?

[huszas76]

Hello Aguest!
I'm afraid, I don't know the answer for your question, but I think, I must take a little supplement.
As I know, this is not austrian, but hungarian maker from Pest, unfortunatly we can't unidentified him. There is no known maker in Pest in this age with this possible monogram.
Best regards!
Krisztián

[dognose]

Hi Aguest,

What method of testing are you using?

Trev.

[Aguest]

My mistake, I meant to say "Austro-Hungarian Empire" which I believe would be the correct title for this spoon?

Yes it seems it was made in Budapest, interesting that the maker is "BU" and the city is "Budapest." Coincidence?

The method of testing is the common acid scratch test. Which method would you recommend?

[dognose]

Apparently, (this will need someone who has worked with silver to confirm/deny) when items are planished/annealed, the silver content of the alloy can become more concentrated on the surface of the piece being worked. I read a long time ago that this is often a reason why acid testing can give a misleading result.

Specific gravity testing is an accurate method that can be performed at home. If you use the search facility (top right hand corner of the page), it should produce some topics on the subject.

Trev.