www.925-1000.com

Outside our usual sphere. Perhaps only rust free steel body. No specific maker mark, but could this be war related production? Note the stamped initials "RAW.NA." where the W is wider than the other letters. Might only be cursory similarities to militaria or prisoner of war artifacts that have been found, but could that letter refer to the Wehrmacht? (Perhaps even something like the R-Abteilung (department) of the Wehrmacht?) From what I could find, North Africa was normally abreviated as N.A., not NA., however nothing is concrete in the middle of a war. Normal army production would have logos and cleaner marks, but some other bad intentions things seem to be completed as rush jobs. Maybe coincidental, but unexplained letters DAW (above the kaserne name) were on flatware found from concentration camp K.L. Buchenwald. Seems like a long shot, but maybe carried back by a soldier. There is a letter "P" finely scratched into the handle back by zig-zag cuts, possibly by the person who held this. TIA

Two more reverse side:

Hello, this would be Reichsbahn-Ausbesserungs-Werk Neuaubing, a repair facility of the old German National Railroad, Neuaubing being near Munich.No connection to Northern Africa or German military forces. Believe that after the war it was renamed MNA für München-Neuaubing, so this would be pre-1945. It seems to have been cheaply made from a rather thin stainless steel sheet. If I had to pin a date on this I would say around 1940-1943, give or take. Regards, Bahner

Bahner, you are like a gift from God! I had been staking out a source where some metal things that might be related had been surfacing. It was pointing toward someone having been engaged in railroading, and more specifically, with Southern Pacific Railroad possibly as far back as the latter half of the 1930's. There was one of the fairly rare S.P. stainless steel spoons used in the end era of private passenger services. As it happens, many American railroad workers had served in that war as operating groups based upon the original organization that they had worked for. Restoring services in Europe became one of the prime goals to be attained before they would be returned home. As with many companies, Southern Pacific employees served as units to accomplish this. So it's possible this could be a simple item brought back to remember the days when this person served with distinction to try and bring the world back from that time on the edge of self destruction. Every spoon has a story, even if we don't know who carried it. From what I recall of scanning historical information on this period, the yards around Munich had become an absolute bottleneck to getting services back up. So repairing that mess as fast as possible was one of the big jobs undertaken early on to speed the recovery. Almost didn't take the spoon but something about its' appearance bothered me enough to ask questions. Much obliged! And even though the spoon looks plain in images, I can assure you that it is quite strong and as well made as any of the steel flatware seen in that era.

~~>>The 716th Railway Operating Battalian, sponsored by Southern Pacific, was based further north but did operate trains over these central lines as far south as Augsburg. Not clear if any of the equipment was run to Munich shops for servicing. 716 ROB was the last group of many to return home, staying into 1946. In addition, at least one American Army shop group is known to have been assigned to Munich (not related to the 716th).
-->>There was a forced labor camp related to these shops, but nothing suggests this flatware was used in relation to that. Whether the shops had any kind of food service (commissary etc.) on site among the many buildings was not determined.