Silver gilt casket

[shneal]

Two sides....

[wolfgang]

Dear shneal,
after seeing your newly made photos, I am very sorry to tell you, your casket is for sure no fake, no silver, somebody tried in a very primitive manner to cheat, if you are lucky the thin piece of metal with hallmarks is silver, perhaps... As I said before, its soldered to the body after hallmarking. For sure its no work of Hermann Ratzersdorfer, he has been one of best gold- and silversmiths of vienna in the period 2.half of 19th, delivering highest quality. I don't know where you are living, perhaps you can visit an antiques shop with genuine silver caskets, you will understand what I mean. Sorry for the disappointment.
Kind regards
Wolfgang

[AG2012]

Forgive me in chipping in, was thinking what can be done.
First of all, as Wolfgang suspected, the casket needs to be checked for silver (my red arrow at the traces of white metal and black color, not consistent with silver patina).The worst scenario would be spelter (a zinc alloy).
Figures are fixed with bolts and screws, but I can see rivets, too. Most of the bolts are new (the only remaining old bolt is at the bottom plate on the right.
In short, if it`s made of silver the casket is worth repairing. Bolts are not difficult to make, although 19th century screws had different lead (the number of lines per 1 cm). New leads can be cut, though. These industrial bolts are really distracting.
Good luck (you can kindly let us know what the result is).
Regards

[shneal]

Thank you for the info. I will indeed update you both.

Regards,

shneal

[gsmoggy]

Hello Members

I have just noticed this old post,re discussion of the Ratzersdorfer mark, I thought I would give my opinion,as I have A box by him (posted on this forum quite a few times (small ornate Jeweled box).

In my opinion if the mark on my box is correct. The mark on this silver casket is not his mark ,in my opinion it is imitating the mark on my box.
I have added images of the mark on my box,there are quite a few differences between the two marks,one of the main things is the large section at the top of the mark is attached to the outline square (not on my mark) the lines on the wings and body are missing on this mark(on my mark) the general shape of the mark not the same(a bit muddled).

I have noticed this Eagle mark of his is less common than the HR mark,I feel this was one of his earlier marks (Eagle mark) 1862 on my box.

Regards Guido.