Figural Spoon Z for Zurich?

[waunie]

I have found this very interesting spoon. It only has two hallmarks that I can see, both on the front of the bowl. One is an obvious makers mark of IW and the other is a Z? Or possibly even an N. I'm thinking early Zurich? The spoon is quite heavy and measures 6 inches long. Also, any presumption to who the fella might be?
Thank you for time in looking into this post!

[Joerg]

Hi
Z was the city mark for Zurich in the 1600 and 1700. In the later part of the 1700 the coat of arms was used until around 1840.
The Z on your spoon seems casted. It should be stamped. I do not think your spoon is really old. Historismn or younger. Not older than the 1880ies, probably younger. I can have a look at the marks in the evening. I don't have my references with me.
Can you post some more pictures of the figure, to ease identification? Important are the attributes, the hat and other details.
Regards, Jörg

[oel]

Hi,
Yes, I agree with Joerg. We are looking at pseudo/fake marks. Perhaps Dutch pseudo marks because similar marks Z and/or N in a circle and IW are noted as Dutch pseudo marks. I believe the spoon not to be old and the little fellow with a feather in its headdress to be a Moriaan/Blackamoor (a contemptuous term used to refer to a black person.)
So-called blackamoors, or black Moors, were originally black people from North Africa who worked as servants and slaves in wealthy European households. The negative connotation of the term comes from its historical association with servitude and from the perception that black Moors were strangely exotic. In 1596, Queen Elizabeth I targeted them for deportation.

Source; Valse Zilvermerken in Nederland K.A. Citroen.

Best,

Peter

[waunie]

I am working on new pics. Of course thank you for your expertise. So psuedo marks? As in fake, or they wanted someone to believe they were from another country and time? What exactly is the point of that?



Waunie

[oel]

The point of that is personal gain; money. For information about pseudo marks see:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=28590#p71003
and
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=28590#p116738


Peter.

[waunie]

Thank you Jörg!

[waunie]

And thank you Peter! Such interesting reading! It doesn't matter to me whether it's 300 or 100 yrs old. It's unique and a great conversation piece!