posted 06-15-2017 02:28 AM            

A family member has recently acquired silver items that I would like to learn more about. I appreciate any information you can provide.

(1) A beautiful spoon with a windmill, barn, bull/cow, trees and birds in the center of the spoon and intricate leaves and flowers around it to create a slotted spoon. Here are two pictures -

There are inscriptions on the spoon that I can see. I see "832". Then there is a galloping horse with its right side showing and its left leg in front, perhaps drawing a carriage. Next there is the head and neck of a girl in a circle, wearing a hat with her left cheek showing. Next there is the letter "M" in a circle. There is something else which I cannot make out. I am in the process of getting a magnifying glass. Here is a picture -

Can you please tell me about this piece?

(2) This is a tray that holds salt and pepper or oil and vinegar bottles. The inscription underneath has a prominent lion rampant (lion on hind legs) in a circle. It has an upward curved long tongue, a tail that looks like a slightly slanted "S" and its right leg raised and bent at the knee. Its right arm is higher than the left. Below that the inscription says -
REPRODUCTION
OLD SHEFFIELD PLATE
MADE IN ENGLAND.

One side has the number "21" on it.
The tray has flowers at each corner and in the center of each side (8 in total). Unfortunately, the bottles are missing.
I thought old sheffield plate is copper with silver plate, however, the lion rampant is a mark of Irish 0.925 sterling silver. Is this item silver plated or sterling silver?

Here are pictures -

(3) Set of flatware with "GN" in a circle, followed by "K" in a circle, then "GERO" and "90" in a circle. From searching the forum prior to posting, I gather this is designed by Georg Nilsson and manufactured in 1944. Also that it is silver plated. Is this correct? I had hoped it would be sterling silver. Here is a picture -

(4) A small spoon with the words "Maranatha Kerk" and a church carved into the handle. I gather Maranatha is a church but I am not sure which one this spoon refers to. I could not find any info on the internet. Is this spoon plated or sterling? Here is a picture -

Thanks for your help.
Sue.

[This message has been edited by sonababy (edited 06-15-2017).]

[This message has been edited by sonababy (edited 06-15-2017).]

[This message has been edited by sonababy (edited 06-15-2017).]

posted 06-15-2017 09:38 AM            

To get things started see:

• Help identify coffee pot please
  
• GERO GZ silver plate ?

posted 06-15-2017 06:46 PM            

On item 2, the lion rampant here is not a hallmark but a trade mark though I am afraid I do not know for which company. The item will be silver-plated.

On item 4, with no hallmarks and nothing to say 925 or sterling, the spoon is pretty certainly silver-plated. Makers of solid silver items tend not to disguise the composition of the item. I assume it is Dutch. There seems to be a Maranatha Kerk in several Dutch towns (and in S Africa, where I guess it serves Afrikaans speakers there). A quick google search was no help in trying to match one of them to the representation on your spoon.

Sorry if this is not a lot of help.

posted 06-16-2017 08:43 AM            

A blob that might be the maker’s mark,

A lion passant in a hexagonal cartouche indicating second standard (833/1000) silver,

Minerva’s Head in a round cartouche (the mark should include a small letter to identify the assay town),

Date letter M for 1922.

I assumed the mark above the date letter reads something like 83(?), repeating the fineness of the silver. If it is actually something different (SJ?) it could be the maker’s mark.

And I should have added for item 3 that these will be silver-plated as indicated by the lack of specific silver marks.

posted 06-16-2017 10:31 AM            

Item number 2 is definitely silver plated. It may or may not have a copper base metal under the silver plating as it says it is a reproduction. Real Sheffield plate as you correctly point out would have been made from a sandwich of two thin sheets of silver alloy around a thicker inner core sheet of copper and welded together by high pressure before stamping it into the shape. Is there any area on the tray that is worn though the silver plate where you can see the inner core metal? It might be the old style Sheffield construction since they make a point of saying it is a reproduction of Sheffield plate, but not necessarily since it would be cheaper to make using the electroplating method. As for the lion rampant, if you do a quick search for British hallmarks and look at the Glasgow hallmark for that city you will see that the style is quite different. British hallmarks are very exact including the shape of the indented field around the icon. There are no generalities and if there is even a small difference in design due to anything other than being worn or a die strike that is slightly at an angle then it is not a British hallmark. Overall, this manufacturer's marking appears to my eye to not have very much age to it.

3. Yes this is definity silver plate.

posted 06-16-2017 02:06 PM            

The mystery of the first spoon has been solved. It is indeed Dutch. The date stamp is "M" in a circle (the right most mark). Only one question remains - if the year of manufacture was 1922 or 1947 since both use the letter "M". I am leaning towards it being 1947.

On the left there is a lion passant facing right. That helped me determine that it was Dutch since the British marks have the lion facing left. As required between 1814 and 1953, just below the lion, there is a "2" indicating it is standard mark silver with a stamp of 832 above the other hallmarks. 1953 onwards this number format was changed to roman numerals and the requirement became to have at least 0.925 purity for first standard and 0.833 for second standard. This confirms the date of manufacture to be before 1953. Was there a purity requirement prior to 1953 or just that the item needed to indicate silver content, as this one does.

On the left of the lion but within the same hallmark is a key, indicating that the item is for export and 2/3 duty restitution upon export. This was effective between 1853 and 1953.

The middle mark is a Minerva's head duty mark. What did this mean? Was it that the item was legally manufactured and duty/taxes had been paid on it?. The helmet on the Minerva head contains "M" which signifies regional assay office Schoonhoven (closed in 1987).

Below all these marks, right at the edge, abutting the border of the center scenery there is a maker's mark of "<N10". The sideways triangle is solid. Between 1944 and 1951, this was the mark used by Niekerk Groothandel in Gouden en Zilveren Werken formely known as; J. Niekerk b.v.( or Fa. Gebr. Niekerk/Firm brothers Niekerk). Reference: Dutch and Schoonhoven Silver Marks

Do you know if this manufacturer was producing silver items in 1922? If not, then the year of manufacture has to be 1947.

As for item (2), the lion rampant is indeed a manufacturer/designer's mark. Agphile, thank you for that lead. Kimo, indeed the lion rampant hallmark is never in a circle. The mark belongs to Charles Howard Collins from Birmingham, England. Was he a maker or designer or both?

There is a bit of copper showing at a couple of spots but not a lot. I can now see a seam along some parts of the edge where two layers have been joined. These two layers (at least along the edge) are very thick. Does that imply that thick a layer of silver all over? If so, it seems pointless to plate a thin layer of copper with this much silver. The other question is year of manufacture. There is a "21" in the middle of one edge which I do not know the significance of.

(4) The Maranatha Kerk spoon has what appears to be a maker's mark on the back of the handle. It looks like "OEME" followed by another letter (perhaps an "A") or a symbol. I have not found anything in my research thus far.

Once again, thank you for sharing your expertise. I have thoroughly enjoyed the exercise. I wish I had other items to research. I hope I can help others on this site.

I have researched 24 small souvenir spoons as well. Many of these I could not find information about. Is this site only for silver items or are you ineterested in other metals too?

Sue.

posted 06-17-2017 11:34 AM            

Do you know when CHC used the lion rampant logo and when he switched to using "CHC". Or when he stopped manufacturing, would give a timeframe for when this item was produced.

posted 06-17-2017 07:35 PM            

"C. H. Collins and Sons
of 47 and 48 Hockley Hill, Birmingham. (1922)
Ditto Address. Telephone: Northern 1815. Cables: "Snilloc, Birmingham". (1929)
1920 Patent - Improvements in necktie clips, trouser clips, stocking suspender clips and the like. [1]
1922 Listed Exhibitor - British Industries Fair. Erinoid Ladies' Handbag Frames, Collar Studs, Sleeve Links, Soft Collar Clips, Scarf Clips, Vest Buttons, Erinoid and Pearl Ladies' Girdles. (Stand No. E.26B) [2]
1929 Listed Exhibitor - British Industries Fair. Manufacturers of Collar Studs, Sleeve Links, etc., in Metal, Rolled Gold, Pearl. Also Novelties in Shingle Brushes, Powder and Compact Boxes. Birmingham Jewellers' and Silversmiths' Association Member. (Stand Nos. J.43 and J.54) [3]"

They were in business as late as 1929 as the article indicates. However, I could not find a reference that would help in dating your piece or when they started using the Lion mark.

Old Sheffield Plate used sterling silver as opposed to 100% silver on plated items. You could take it to a jeweler have have it tested non-destructively to see the type of plating used. If it is sterling on top of copper, Mr Collins used a process that I thought was phased out in the 1840s when electroplating became the plating method of choice.

posted 06-17-2017 11:03 PM            

quote:

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Wonder if it is silver on the edges too. The tarnishing on the top and bottom makes it look like silver and the tray does not react to a magnet, which I realize does not guarantee that it is silver.

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Sheffield style silver plating usually had a thin edging of silver added to the edges to hide the inner copper core of the sandwich of silver/copper/silver when you look at the edges.

Magnet testing to determine if something is silver is normally pretty useless as silver plated flatware and hollowware tends to use other metals than iron or steel as the base metal.

Acid testing is also pretty useless since it the acid is only reacting to whatever metal is on the surface so even if there is a very thin layer of silver electroplated on a base metal the acid will only tell you that there is silver in the surface and not what is beneath. Acid testing does work if you damage your silver by cutting down into through the surface layer all the way down to the center of the metal but why would anyone want to damage their nice things just to determine if it is silver when 99.9 percent of the time solid silver is clearly marked as such while everything else, including your reproduction tray is not. If you have something that you are convinced is unmarked solid silver then the best way to tell without damaging it is to use the specific gravity method of testing. Some jewelers can do that for you for a fee but you have to make it very clear to them that you do not want them to be putting acid on your things as many of them will try to do so. Alternatively a few jewelers may have a Wavelength Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence Analysis tester, but most do not since those testers are really expensive (think in the area of a fancy new car equivalent)