posted 03-27-2006 09:16 PM            

Hello everyone,

I hope my pix are properly sized today.

Can anyone provide insight about the marks on the following ladle, marked Kordel with an "L" and mark with a forest of trees divided by a diagonal line?

Thanks in advance...looking forward to contributing back sometime...

posted 03-27-2006 10:54 PM            

The "L" is not that, but "St." in script: the mark of silversmith Johann Christopf Stück (1809-1841, master 1835). Likewise, "KORDEL" is the mark of silversmith Carl Heinrich Kördel (1789-1835). Kordel was apprenticed 1799-1803 to his father, Kassel royal goldsmith Johann Adam Kördel (1741-1814, master 1767, warrant 1801). After the elder Kördel’s death, his widow Johanna continued his workshop with son Carl Heinrich as principal craftsman. There is no record of Kördel’s mastership, probably because of his mother’s dowager status, but the shop retained the royal warrant until at least 1821.

Given the dual maker’s marks, I surmise that the ladle was made by Stück for Kördel, such subcontracting not an uncommon practice for a prominent shop like Kördel’s. Fortunately, all the marks narrow the date rather precisely: between 1836 (the lower date for the letter "H") and 1841 (Stück’s death.) (Although Kördel died in 1835, his workshop survived him, as it had his father before him.) The 1836-1841 date is also spot-on for the ladle stylistically, being the heyday of the German pointed handle "lancet" style.

So there you have it: Kassel, Germany, 1836-1841, by Johann Christopf Stück for Carl Heinrich Kördel.

Interesting, no, that you have two examples of items - continents and decades apart - with dual manufacturer's marks?

Hope this helps!