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tline3open  Tardy and Diviš - preliminary comparison

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Author Topic:   Tardy and Diviš - preliminary comparison
FWG

Posts: 845
Registered: Aug 2005

iconnumber posted 03-05-2006 05:16 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for FWG     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Following on discussions in several threads over the past month or so, I've now had a chance to at least begin comparing Diviš, Guide to Silver Marks of the World (1992 English ed. [hereafter, GSMW, to save entering the s-caron which may not render in all systems anyway]) and Tardy, International Hallmarks on Silver (1985 English ed. [hereafter, Tardy]).

GSMW is organized like the analytical index of Tardy, with marks shown, in good drawings, in order by design. Next to each is its identification. The first 20+ pages give brief surveys of the histories of marking in 31 countries; these are mostly less detailed than in Tardy, and although they sometimes start at an earlier date than Tardy, they are mostly very thin for more recent years (which makes them likely less useful for many people, who are more likely to encounter a 1940s piece than a 15th-century one). Most of these sketches do cite one or a few references, but many are dated by now.

In many cases, GSMW gives only one example of a mark where Tardy shows a range from different years. And Tardy does include countries not in GSMW (particularly non-European ones) -- although the coverage of most such even in Tardy is cursory at best. GSMW does not show city letters or date codes (which Tardy does for some), but does list other data omitted by Tardy (like the letter codes for Austro-Hungarian marks). I noted one mark for Naples in GSMW not in Tardy, but many GSMW drawings appear to be copied from Tardy, or from the same source Tardy copied from (although rendered in uniform style with black background). Then again, GSMW shows a different mark for 18th-century Jönköping (Sweden) than does Tardy. I gather the marks in GSMW were copied from many sources, into a uniform style.

GSMW appears to have much better coverage of Poland than Tardy, and also of parts of the area of (formerly) Czechoslovakia; Tardy seems better for Russian marks. A curious decision was made to include some US (coin) silversmiths' initial marks in GSMW; the incompleteness of this makes it pretty useless.

The alphabetizing of GSMW in English follows English spelling, unlike Tardy (although in GSMW this only really pertains to the introductory sketches and the index, since the marks aren't organized by country). This is the main complaint I hear about Tardy, but those who use it regularly do get used to looking for the French word order -- or rely on the index at the back. In GSMW, to find all marks of a particular country you have to go to the index of cities and countries, and even then may need to search both a country and its cities (the index doesn't repeat, for example, marks of Paris under the entry for France, and the entry for Denmark, for example, lists only one mark; the others are listed under the cities).

All in all, I'm happy to have both in my library now. But I think I'll still use Tardy more often, and pull out GSMW more for confirmation and difficult cases, particularly of pieces I suspect to be from eastern Europe.

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Clive E Taylor

Posts: 450
Registered: Jul 2000

iconnumber posted 03-05-2006 05:35 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Clive E Taylor     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I only have a copy of Tardy but would like to comment that I find it difficult and rather "hit or miss" to use . Admittedly it is trying to cover a very broad a field in a quite small book .
Applying the rule - check something you know something about to assess the coverage on something you know nothing - I looked at it's explanations on English silver . I was not impressed and if the coverage of other countries is similar.....!
Certainly it looks good on French marks but even then the poor translation does not help.
However I think it is the best thing for pointing one in the right direction.

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