posted 08-15-2017 10:58 PM            

It is entirely hand raised and all aspects are handmade. The work is simply amazing!

Why on earth would they only mark this with a standard mark and nothing else? And do the others here agree that this is Posen's work?

posted 08-16-2017 10:09 AM            

My thoughts on this type of marking is that the firm making it was purely wholesale and the retail seller did not want the manufacturers name on it.

The unmarked pieces are the real mystery. A guess is that if you are making 12 or 24 of something it is possible to miss marking one of them. Marking silver is a bit of a dance in the making process. It has to be done at the right time to allow for setting the mark. Setting means the pushing back the silver where the steel punch compressed the silver, lead is sometimes used or just careful planishing but either need finishing after by polishing. Yes you can mark a finished piece but it is always an inferior result compared to marking earlier.

Lastly, a thought on our modern view of marking. Back in the day the smith was a mechanic and his name meant little. Today the smith is an "artist" and ego is part of the package. We might assume that they would have been upset not to have been named when the opposit might be true. Or at least there would have been little expectation to ever be named.

posted 08-16-2017 11:10 AM            

My understanding was that sometimes makers didn't mark things because the retailers wanted to use their own marks.

You probably discovered this yourself too, but Posen was Lazarus Posen Witwe--"Lazarus Posen's Widow"--a firm founded in 1869 by Brendina Posen, a silversmith's widow. The family was Jewish, and "the firm became the largest supplier of Judaica in the late 19th century...The exact date of the company’s closure is not known, but it seems certain that the wealthy Jewish-owned firm was a victim of the terrors of the Nazi regime." I'm quoting from this thread: Posen Silberwaaren, Germany

posted 08-16-2017 01:21 PM            

I read most of what you posted and saw the pieces you mentioned, Polly. I find it sad that the firm ended in such a way.

posted 02-11-2019 10:26 AM            

Thanks for pointing out the missing images.

Third party hosted images often disappear .....
This is why we ask everyone to use the SSF photo gallery.

posted 02-13-2019 10:15 AM            

This is one of the few items that I have sold since the thread, I usually keep this kind of stuff, but the lack of a Maker's mark bothered me after a while so a friend of mine now owns the piece.

I can tell you relatively accurately from memory that it about 8" by 5" oval, the top of the handle is about 6 or 7 inches high.

With certainty I can tell you it is completely hand made, raised, etc. A lot of detailed work went into this piece and I'm relatively certain it's made by Posen.

An interesting side note, is that I had it checked by XRF and a Sigma Precious Metals Verifier and both confirmed a purity of, get this: 98% pure! It makes a little sense as it's raised from sheet (like Gorham Martele)

I had it in the collection for a while, but the standard mark alone and no other marks irritated me and a close friend showed interest so I passed it along.

I can live with a maker's mark that I cannot locate, but no mark at all, I can't stand that.

posted 02-13-2019 10:31 AM            

How interesting about the purity of the metal!

posted 02-15-2019 03:51 PM            

My Posen demitasse cream and sugar arrived last night. It was so black with tarnish that it was hard to imagine there was even silver underneath. I polished it for a couple of hours, and now it's just very tarnished. It was clearly once gilded, but I don't know how much of the gilding will be left after I get rid of the tarnish. It needs a few more hours of work, but here's a preview: