posted 01-22-2009 04:51 PM            

I am from Sweden and my interest in collecting is quite academic; I like to find objects, where I have to do some research, but it can sometimes be hard especially in the field of European continental silver or in this case Chinese export silver. Swedish silver is as you probably already know, like British, quite often easy to identify.

Seeing this one in the shop, I thought that I had found a nice British Georgian cream pail, but when I turned it upside down I saw the Chinese mark and some sort of diet. The price was so low and the Georgian form interesting that I bought it. At home I started to read about Chinese export silver and I had a widened frame of reference of the development of China trade silver from the 18th century, when the Chinese began making duplicates of Western-style pieces to sell to Europeans and Americans and by the mid-19th century the style developed, Chinese motifs and styles were introduced, not longer being taken for British.

It stands to be corrected, but in my opinion this form of cream pail was in vogue in the mid-18th century and later they became taller and often they were executed in open-work with glass liners.
This one is flaring cylindrical applied with imitated hoops, simple plain swing handle, no traces of engraving and marked on base.

Height 1.97 in (50 mm), width is 1.81 in (46mm), weight 1.83 oz (52 gram)

I would appreciate your opinion and comments about this cream pail and if possible a translation/transcription of the Chinese text of the mark. Is the mark identified? Is it possible to date this pail by style?

posted 01-27-2009 02:54 PM            

Silverware from China wrote "this is a typical chinese hallmark,it pronunce "Hong Xing" in chinese langage,there are hundreds of such hallmarks in chinese silverware,so you can't know which exactly company or silversmith made this item."