posted 10-25-2004 04:10 PM            

Is anyone familiar with flatware made by the European firm of Sandrik?

My understanding is that it was a Slovakian firm that produced goods in a variety of metals, and that the company may still survive as Sandrik-Berndorf.

I am curious about a table setting I have that features the maker's mark of "A. S. Sandrik"--struck as a diamond enclosing the name in a circle around a rosette--but no other marks for silver fineness or country of origin. From the shape of the spoons and the style of their monograms--vaguely Secessionist/Art Nouveau--I would guess that they were made during the first quarter of the twentieth century.

What I am wondering is: are these pieces made from one of the white metal alloys used in the period, or could they be silver, even without the typical hallmarks?

I must say, they look and feel much like my other 830 pieces, and under magnification they don't appear to be plated.

Thanks very much for your help and this interesting forum!

Heather Jane

posted 10-25-2004 06:29 PM            

The Sandrik silver company was a very high- profile Slovakian manufacturer, started by the mining magnate Robert Berks who thought that by building a factory at the mine he would cut costs in 1895. The name is taken from the owner of the land, Johannes Sandrik and the mark of a six-petalled rose was adopted. The factory got off to a flying start because this was the hey-day of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

It became internationally famous at the end of the c.19th when it employed the Vienna trained (Czech) designer Jan Peterka and his designs won gold medals for the company at both the Paris International Exhibition of 1899 and the 1900 International Exhibition in Budapest.
The factory however did not prosper and was bankrupt by 1906 when it was taken over by the Pest Insurance Company, who continued to run it.

I don't know how the Berndorf-Sandrik Co.is decended from the above company, which it sounds as if it should be - maybe part of the privatization after the fall of the Berlin Wall?? - should know, but don't

posted 10-25-2004 10:36 PM            

• Barock

  

• Premiere

  

• Menuet

  

posted 10-26-2004 08:53 AM            

Your information is very interesting.

I wonder where the initials "A. S." with the Sandrik come from, given that the land was owned by "Johannes" Sandrik. Do you know whether their mark changed when Pest Insurance took over? It would be fascinating if the dating window were as narrow as 1895-1906. As for the absence of other hallmarks, because the company mined its own metals, perhaps it could opt out of marking if it chose to?

I have come across other Sandrik pieces in my research, however, which bear Czech hallmarks.

Thanks again for the help.