|
|
|
| How to Post Photos |
REGISTER (click here)
|
|
|
|
| How to Post Photos |
REGISTER (click here)
|
|
 SMP Silver Salon Forums
 Continental / International Silver
 Swiss Spoon - 1795
|
 SSFFriend: Email This Page to Someone! |
next newest topic | next oldest topic |
| Author | Topic: Swiss Spoon - 1795 |
|
nettiep51 Posts: 4 |
posted 09-05-2005 12:09 PM
  
I've become obsessed over the last few days with identifying the marks on a silver spoon I picked up at a local Goodwill store. My area was heavily populated by early Scandavian settlers, and I am curious as the Dickens about this piece. I am a computer illiterate and it will be awhile before I figure out how to post a photo, but I hope this description will enable someone to help me out. The spooon is about the size of a modern serving spoon. The bowl is obviously hand formed and a solder joint is visible where it meets the handle. The tip of the bowl curves up a little as though it was meant to keep the contents from spilling forward. It has 4 marks on the back of the handle in addition to 2 seperate monograms also on the back. I thought that a funny place for the monogram. Mark #1 is the "Kattfoten" or "catspaw" (3crowns in 3 circles forming a triangle of circles) which according to the Swedish Assay Office is Sweden's National mark denoting at least 830 thousanths pure silver. Mark #2 is "N2" which is the date code and means 1795. Mark #3 should denote the city. It is an angled view of a building showing a front door and 3 windows along the long side of the building. There are 3 spries (?) on the roof, the center one being the tallest. Venturing a guess I would say it's a church as the door looks to be arched.Could also be a government building of some sort. Mark #4 is a name: HAMNOVIS While researching the spoon I came upon a geneology posting wherein a woman had a spoon that looks a lot like mine. Her's was a "funeral spoon" Does anyone know which city the building denotes, and/or what HAMNOVIS is or means? It's makin' me crazy!! IP: Logged |
|
Scotia Posts: 125 |
posted 09-05-2005 02:33 PM
Hi there, I reckon that the city mark is that of Lund from what you have described, although there is a slightly similar mark for Nykoping and Halsingborg. IP: Logged |
|
FWG Posts: 845 |
posted 09-07-2005 09:26 AM
I haven't been able to identify HAMNOVIS, which should be the maker's mark, but Scotia is right that Lund is the most likely candidate for the city from your description. The resource you want for the maker's mark is Svenskt silversmide 1520-1850; I don't have easy access to a copy, but I did find that there's one in the Mobile public library -- which seems to be the closest one to you. So far as I can tell a funeral spoon is really just a regular spoon that has a funeral engraving. If yours looks like the one illustrated in that genealogy article Swiss Spoon - 1795 , the tip has probably just been bent upward a bit; that happens sometimes. The handle/bowl joint shouldn't actually be a solder joint, although they sometimes look that way. They were made with a reinforced drop there that was probably more decorative than functional, but in that Swedish pattern it's strongly forged (not in the sense of faked, just worked by hammer and tools) and looks like an joint between two pieces. If that is the form, it would have been somewhat old-fashioned by 1795, when the French pattern was more typical in Sweden -- at least in Stockholm. Perhaps Lund was more conservative in style.... IP: Logged |
|
blakstone Posts: 493 |
posted 09-07-2005 07:54 PM
I trust that members of this forum, knowing my circumstances, will be suitably impressed that I can identify the city mark here as that of Åmål, Sweden and the maker as Gustav Hamnqvist, working 1789-1818. IP: Logged |
|
dragonflywink Posts: 993 |
posted 09-08-2005 12:34 AM
Very impressive, blakstone - done without your library??? Amazing! Cheryl ;o) IP: Logged |
|
FWG Posts: 845 |
posted 09-08-2005 11:26 AM
Doubly impressive, working from only a description! IP: Logged |
|
adelapt Posts: 418 |
posted 09-08-2005 05:17 PM
Blakstone: Consider me suitably impressed! It's also very heartening to see you still into it with your ears back... very best wishes, Adelapt IP: Logged |
|
nettiep51 Posts: 4 |
posted 09-08-2005 07:10 PM
Many thanks to all who responded. I truly appreciate your efforts. I thought my pack rat gene had gone dormant, but it seems to have resurfaced sending me off on a quest to learn more about Gustav, and about the spoon's previous ownership. (And I though retirement would be boring) You folks are terrific. A special "Thanks!" to blakstone. I assume Katrina had something to do with your being "without your library". I was at ground zero for Jeanne and Francis here in Florida last year. My thoughts and prayers are with all those affected. Thanks again to all. IP: Logged |
|
nettiep51 Posts: 4 |
posted 09-08-2005 07:15 PM
FWG: The book you mentioned (Svenskt silversmide 1520-1850)is in English?? A search for a local copy was unfruitful and all leads were written in.. . something other than English. I found an out of print book: "Swedish Silver" by Eric Andren. Last pub was 1950. Is it informative enough for a novice like myself? IP: Logged |
|
FWG Posts: 845 |
posted 09-09-2005 10:12 AM
I like the Andren book, it's a nice brief introduction to the range of Swedish silver, including even some modernist work. But it's not much help on marks. An even better one is Lightbrown's Catalogue of Scandinavian and Baltic Silver from the Victoria and Albert Museum, but this one is strongest for 17th- and 18th-century pieces. And again it's not a lot of help with marks, giving them only in text description with references to the relevant works. I have ordered a copy of Svenskt silversmide for my library and will report later. It is written in Swedish. But Swedish is far from the hardest language for an English-speaker to work through, especially written -- I tend to get lost in the lovely rhythms of spoken Swedish.... IP: Logged |
|
nettiep51 Posts: 4 |
posted 09-10-2005 04:45 AM
Tack, FWG. There you have it. My one and only link to the Swedish language:tack I'll start with the Andren book then and wait for your book report. I know this is old news to you, but I just found out how popular a silversmith Gustaf Hamnquist, and his sons were, and still are. My little spoon makes me feel like I can actually hold a piece of history in my hand. It's a little humbling. Many "tack" for your reply. IP: Logged |
All times are ET | next newest topic | next oldest topic |
  |
|
Ultimate Bulletin Board 5.46a
|
1. Public Silver Forums (open Free membership) - anyone with a valid e-mail address may register. Once you have received your Silver Salon Forum password, and then if you abide by the Silver Salon Forum Guidelines, you may start a thread or post a reply in the New Members' Forum. New Members who show a continued willingness to participate, to completely read and abide by the Guidelines will be allowed to post to the Member Public Forums. 2. Private Silver Salon Forums (invitational or $ donation membership) - The Private Silver Salon Forums require registration and special authorization to view, search, start a thread or to post a reply. Special authorization can be obtained in one of several ways: by Invitation; Annual $ Donation; or via Special Limited Membership. For more details click here (under development). 3. Administrative/Special Private Forums (special membership required) - These forums are reserved for special subjects or administrative discussion. These forums are not open to the public and require special authorization to view or post. |
|
copyright © 1993 - 2022
SM Publications
All Rights Reserved. Legal & Privacy Notices |