Silver or silver plated egg cup hallmark ID

[lucyslocker]

Newbie here! I inherited a vintage egg cup from my mother-in-law. She lived in Germany for many years and travelled extensively through Europe and the surrounding countries. I do not know where she procured this cup prior to adding it to her collection of egg cups. It is highly tarnished and has a hallmark on the outer rim. It appears to be a 4 to the left of a square. In the square it looks like a double headed bird in the center with a large E in the bottom right corner. Some of the mark has worn off and it is very small, making identification difficult. I do not know if it is silver or plated but it was quite a chore removing the tarinsh from a small area. Hours of Internet research on the mark led me to this Forum. I respectfully request any help with identification of the mark. Identifying the mark will surely lead to determining the metal!

Here are the details:
Decorated band near the top of the rim (crosshatch?)
Footed (pedestal)
Hallmark on undecorated band above the decoration
No marks on the base
Approximate measurements:
2 3/4" tall
1 5/8 diameter bowl
1 7/16" diameter base
1 5/8" deep bowl

I used a jewelers cloth to remove some of the tarnish near the hallmark. Photos are below.
Thank you for your time!
Lucy

[Essexboy Fisher]

Hello Lucy, I just came across your post. I just looked at your hallmark photos and wondered if the first mark was not in fact a 4, but was an A or even a castle shaped like a pyramid?. Castles are a common town/city marks in German silver. Silver centers around Hamburg used a castle with a door in the middle. I do not have enough knowledge to be specific. I think you need to try to clean the dark areas of the mark. When I clean a spoon I have just obtained I clean the worst tarnish first but clean the marks with a tooth brush and washing up detergent not any stronger than I would use for cups and mugs. You may need to do it more than once. In the Hamburg marks there is a letter to be seen on the "door". Check the inter net again with a looser idea of what the mark is. Check Hamburg marks and check Hanau type marks. This is a very good forum for getting items identified but sometimes you need to be very patient.
Yours
Fishless

[lucyslocker]

Fishless,

Sorry for the delay in responding. Thank you for the information. I was checking for a reply every day for a month...and nothing. I took a stab today and there you were - from May! My apologies and my appreciation. I will try to clean it up a bit better and check out those Hamburg and Hanau marks. My mother-in-law resided in Germany for about 10 years. She is gone now so I am doing this with little background on the egg cup. I still do not even know if it is silver or silver plate. With the amount of wear on the mark and the size of the egg cup, it is not easy to see the mark clearly.

THANK YOU, once again. I was thrilled to see that I had a reply. I will also take your advice on the patience thing!

God bless you and have a wonderful week.

Lucy