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These marks are on an ornate little open salt, shaped a bit like a boat on a pedestal. The marks are under the "prow." The chased decoration on it includes fruit and a leafy horned face, like a green man. I can link to more images, but the title of this forum says single image, so I won't for now, unless someone wants to see them.

I've been trying to identify these marks for days, starting with internet sites first and then looking through a book called "Old Silver" by Seymour B. Wyler. The marks are very hard to read, and I think the piece may be quite old. Maybe 17th or 18th century? Thus far, I'm thinking the marks may be French, but I was unable to find marks in the book that were clearly the same. I think the marks on this salt are partially obliterated.

Does anyone recognize these or have any ideas? I believe the piece is sterling, but since I can't read the hallmarks, I won't really know unless I test it. I don't want to cut into it.

These are pseudo-marks generally attributed to J.D. Schleissner & Söhne of Hanau, Germany, and the salt sounds fairly typical of their work. See this page on Hanau Pseudo-Marks, under J.D. Schleissner, marks s448 & s449.

Hi,
Blackstone is absolutely right. J. D. Schleissner & Söhne.This is one of combinations of their marks and two marks are distinctive: ``chalice with pellets`` on the left and ``sickle mark`` on the right. Fineness is lower than sterling, 800, 830 or sometimes 13 loth. Late 19th century or early 20th century.
http://www.925-1000.com/forum/viewtopic ... au#p127599
Regards

Thanks! The people on this forum are truly awesome! I really appreciate it. I looked at the page, and didn't see it at first, but now I do see the one that's very similar. The description of their work and the other examples do sound like this piece too. Mystery solved!