Spoon from the 18th century, difficult one
Spoon from the 18th century, difficult one
This spoon looks from the 18th century and is marked with the dolphin and another mark, but hardly recognizable. Maybe there is somebody who sees it? I have no clue to be honest...
Re: Spoon from the 18th century, difficult one
Frisian(?) ornamental spoon, the finial stands for Peace, a personification that, especially in Frisian ornamental spoons from the first half of the eighteenth century, is the woman with olive branch and palm branch. The olive branch is associated, among other things, with Peace, as an aspect of divine grace. The palm branch promises reward to those who are worthy.
The stem of the spoon, what we see here is not a mark but an imperfection caused by the casting. You expect to find the maker's mark on the back of spoon's bowl, not on the spoon's stem.
The Dolphin mark
The Dutch dolphin mark; the 1859 duty mark for new unguaranteed objects of national origin. This mark was used on all new silver objects below legal standard of fineness, those with non-precious metal additions, and on new heavily gold or silver plated objects, as long as the average precious metal content after melting with the base metal was at least 250/1000. It was also struck on rejected objects which had been submitted at lowest standard of fineness. In that case the maker had to choose between destruction or unguaranteed marking. This mark was sometimes also mistakenly used on old and foreign objects. Dolphin mark used from 1859-1893 and valid from 1859 till 1953.
Peter.
Source; Jan Schipper. Friese zilveren sierlepels uit de achttiende eeuw
The stem of the spoon, what we see here is not a mark but an imperfection caused by the casting. You expect to find the maker's mark on the back of spoon's bowl, not on the spoon's stem.
The Dolphin mark
The Dutch dolphin mark; the 1859 duty mark for new unguaranteed objects of national origin. This mark was used on all new silver objects below legal standard of fineness, those with non-precious metal additions, and on new heavily gold or silver plated objects, as long as the average precious metal content after melting with the base metal was at least 250/1000. It was also struck on rejected objects which had been submitted at lowest standard of fineness. In that case the maker had to choose between destruction or unguaranteed marking. This mark was sometimes also mistakenly used on old and foreign objects. Dolphin mark used from 1859-1893 and valid from 1859 till 1953.
Peter.
Source; Jan Schipper. Friese zilveren sierlepels uit de achttiende eeuw