posted 06-06-1999 12:35 PM            

Special Features
While the Germans did create many highly interesting patterns in the 19th and 20th century from master silversmiths (See Das Deutsche Silber-Besteck- Reinhard Sanger, available from Spencer Marks) this material is seen so rarely on this side of the pond that it would be nearly impossible to put together a place setting one piece at a time. Therefore the American collector looking to add a German place setting to his/her collection might be advised to stick to the more classic patterns made by a number of manufacturers. Fiddlethread would be a good choice since it was produced throughout the 19th century and still enjoys followers today.

The pieces shown here were purchased as a group and probably used together at the table, even though they are from two manufacturers. Therefore it may have been common at the time to just add to your table setting a few pieces at a time. They are quite heavy and well made, the tablespoon being a fill 3 oz and the dinner for 2 oz.

Dating
Dating German Silver, is more detective work than say Russian or British where the date codes are clearly defined. Useful references for the clues are Weyler, “The Book of Old Silver” (ref 6) and Tardy’s International Hallmarks on Silver.

The Spoon and forks were by two different manufacturers and thus will be discussed individually :

Tablespoon: . The “Reichsmark” consisting of the crescent moon, and crown along with the 800 indicate that the spoon conformed to the act of 1884 for pieces of 800 fine or better. The eagle is actually a throwback to the 18th century for Frankfort an Main and may indicate that this was a 19th century “revival” of this 18th century pattern. The maker mark is Heisler for whom I cannot find a reference.

Dinner Fork: . Here the quality stamp is a “12” which indicates 12/16 purity or 750, thus the Reichsmark was not used. Bohrmann was a firm founded in 1865, also from Frankfort am Main agin connecting the spoons to the forks.

From the information presented my dating expert Andrew Katz of Windham Appraisel services places these as late 19th century.

Pieces Available
The standard German place setting is only three pieces- Tablespoon, Dinner Fork, Teaspoon
Shown are:
Item Length est value
Tablespoon 8 ½” $30-$50
Dinner Fork 8” $30-$40
Luncheon Fork 7” $25-$50

Other Pieces Likely available
Certainly teaspoons and dessert spoons exist
Sanger shows that unlike the British system where knives were made separately, the Germans made knives of their patterns back into the early 1800’s.
I have not seen salad forks used in 19th century German patterns

Photo:

Key Pieces
Knives would be the most challenging, while the dessert spoons/ forks are likely scarcer than the dinner forks and were not used in all place settings.

Comments
German place settings are an interesting and challenging addition to ones’ collection.

posted 04-28-2003 08:01 AM            

Is Sanger referring to solid silver only?

posted 04-29-2003 01:50 PM            

P. Bruckmann & Söhne, Heilbronn, was founded in 1805 and thrived until 1973 when it wound up in bankruptcy due to the financial problems of the Dutch outfit who owned it at the time.

Bruckmann was a major producer and its products are found frequently in German auctions. You might look in them for a few items with marks and compare them to those on your spoons.