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So what would a bear hallmark, and the letter 'E' indicate? I assume E is the date-letter?

Other people I've shown it to, think it's the loth number. None of this adds up to me. The research I've done says "Bear with no letter inside it with oval" = 1700s. And all the other marks I've seen seem to back this up. And none of those A-marks are found with a bear on its own, without an ...

So how old is it, then? My research says it has to be at least before the 1880s. In what ways can it be dated more accurately?

The word is "Pounce Pot", for holding pounce (highly absorbent powder or dust, for soaking up ink).

But I don't think it's a pounce-pot. They have a rather distinct shape (due to how they're used), and I don't see that here.

I bought this at a local auction house. There, it was advertised as an "Austro-Hungarian Silver Goblet".

I posted in another forum, and some very helpful people said that it was German, hallmarked in Berlin, but that was all they could tell me.

I have researched the Berlin mark as thoroughly as ...