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tline3open  Hallmark on a single fork

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Author Topic:   Hallmark on a single fork
robinhood

Posts: 4
Registered: Oct 2005

iconnumber posted 10-16-2005 06:36 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for robinhood     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Hello for the first time,

first I would like to introduce myself. I am collecting silver for over 10 years, mostly german plated silver manufactured by WMF but also some pieces in solid silver (german prior to 1880) and furthermore british sterling. It is just a hobby having fun in good workmanship and it is a little "hunting game" for me to trace back the history of some pieces. At last I think silver has something "magical", it is like a virus....you start and you will always learn more and more.....it never ends.

Now to one of my latest pieces recently bought on a fleamarket. I am looking for identifing the hallmark on it for a while but no good idea untill now (I only know what it is not...).
As far as I know after searching different internet sites offering identification of hallmarks the markings are neither british nor Dutch. After looking through my Jan Davis "Hallmarks on silver" I have only found a similar hallmark used in the german city of Lüneburg but unfortunately (for me...) the lion marked there is looking in the wrong direction :-(
Maybe somebody with a little more experience has any idea ?

[url=http://www.alexanderalt.de/bilder/pics/forklion.jpg[ [/url]


Just a short description of the markings (from left to the right):

1st marking : walking lion in a round, looking right
2nd marking : FIR & Co.
3rd marking : looks a little bit like the latin letter "I" but I am not sure...

Thanks in advance and best regards from Germany
Robinhood

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sazikov2000

Posts: 254
Registered: Jan 2005

iconnumber posted 10-16-2005 08:28 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for sazikov2000     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
It could be the townmark of Kalmar/Sweden, in use 17. - 19.century

Just a guess.
Sazikov 2000

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robinhood

Posts: 4
Registered: Oct 2005

iconnumber posted 10-16-2005 10:08 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for robinhood     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Hello sazikov2000,

thanks for your fast reply.
But on my level of information the hallmark for Kalmar (according to my Davis)is either a crowned standing leopard/lion facing right (Davis 924) or a standing leo/lion facing left holding something in his "hands" (Davis 937). I am sorry for having no further literature about scandinavian silver :-(
But both marks are - from my point of view - not very similar to mine. Maybe I have missed a different hallmark of Kalmar not mentioned in the Davis ??

Best regards
Robinhood

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wev
Moderator

Posts: 4121
Registered: Apr 99

iconnumber posted 10-16-2005 11:08 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for wev     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Tardy shows lions facing both directions at various times for Lüneburg, but nothing of the city's modern marks, unfortunately.

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robinhood

Posts: 4
Registered: Oct 2005

iconnumber posted 10-16-2005 05:41 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for robinhood     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Hello wev,

yes, Lüneburg would be a "suitable" idea due to the fact, that this fork was bought in Hamburg which is not to far away from Lüneburg (not a real argument, but a touch of a hint). So, after all, I have to buy myself a Tardy and will have to check whether this markings could be from there.
So, Lüneburg seems to become my next aim for a short weekend trip :-)
Thanks for all people trying to solve my little "mystery" !

Best regards
Robinhood

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blakstone

Posts: 493
Registered: Jul 2004

iconnumber posted 11-03-2005 02:45 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for blakstone     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Hate to disagree, but I don't think Lüneburg is correct. Lüneburg stopped using the rampant lion mark at the end of the 18th century, and the spoon & its monogram just don't look that old to me. (Lüneburg's 19th century mark was a slipper moon with the löthige inside it.)

Rather, recent study by Carl-Wilhelm Clausen suggests that this mark - with the right facing lion - is that of the German city of Jülich during the mid-19th century.

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