Strainer spoon

[AngusAardvark]

I have started going through a selection of silverware inherited from various sources. Most of it seems to be Danish and Swedish with some English items and some I have no idea where they come from.

Among others I have this spoon.



With the following marks



which presumably means that it is made in Denmark in 1875 or at least something ending in 75.



Going though the databases on this site I believe that the presence of Simon Groth's mark suggests 1875.

The maker's initials appear to be ICFF which fits with I.C.F. Fordsmand - Roskilde 1893 - 1937 from the Danish Maker's Marks database.

So is the spoon from 1875 or from ICFF after 1893? It seems to me that the date should be right and there must be another ICFF.

and...... by the way, what is the spoon for? You would hate to eat soup with it.

[Qrt.S]

Obliviously it is. A bit more thinking and researching gives the correct result. First of all it not a spoon but a sugar sifter. Secondly the assayer is Simon Groth who assayed 1863-1904. The maker is Johan Carl Ferdinand Fordsmand i Roskilde in Denmark, His working period is 1869-1895. The sifter is made 1875. A perfect match.

You did not notice that the mentioned Danish register starts from 1890 and ends 2012. This sifter is made 1875. It is the wrong database.

[Hose_dk]

The case is - Nobelantik . Danish antique dealer is the one WHO selected these marks. He has some issues with 925-1000 :-)

Well that antique shop has an interest in the new marks. And therefore update these on a private basis. Before Nobelantik list we have to use the books. Books long time ago sold out from Publisher - and no danes have any interest in republishing.

Regarding your mark it could be 75 but it might also be 73.

[AngusAardvark]

Thanks for that Hose and Qrt.

I figured that there might be some information lacking from the Maker's dates.

So it's a sugar sifter. My wife and I wondered if it was for preserved fruit so you could drain the juice off cherries or something like getting olives out of brine but brine would not be good for silver.

Yes it could be 73, in fact I first thought 73 but ended up deciding that 75 was more believable.