Any clue?

I picked up this small vase at an antique store in Tennessee today. It is silver, but heavily tarnished. It is stamped on the bottom but I am not able to make out if these are letters or characters. I really don’t know anything about silver and Google Lens was no help on this. Thanks for any insight offered!

Vase by WhitneyB posted May 10, 2024 at 5:47 PM

Zoomed bottom by WhitneyB posted May 10, 2024 at 5:47 PM

Stamp by WhitneyB posted May 10, 2024 at 5:47 PM

Vase bottom by WhitneyB posted May 10, 2024 at 5:47 PM

 

No clue ... because we can't see the photos
https://www.antiquers.com/threads/making-a-post-and-uploading-pictures.16038/

PS
Welcome to the club!

 

yer media is set to private,,,,,,,,,,,

pls upload photo's directly here....

 

Are U a NEW MEMBER, just found this site,LOOK HERE 1st ....

 

Thanks everyone! I thought making an album and sharing the images from there was a workaround for having to resize all my images on my phone. I’m new here in case it wasn’t obvious, lol.

 

Now I can see the photos ... and I still have no clue

 

Why do you think it's silver?

 

Yes. I don't see the marks one would expect to see on silver.

Debora

 

I just assumed it was because it looked exactly the same tarnished as another piece I have that is silver. I can still see silver color and some of the tarnish is blue.

 

But the scratching on the bottom does not look like any silver marks either Debora or I know of. Do you have a local jeweler who would be willing to test it for silver?

 

I may look into that. It looks very similar in size and style to antique Persian and Iranian vases. It may be junk, but it’s definitely not something that was mass produced because of imperfections that I see. I posted it earlier on a “metals” subreddit and one person responded that it looked like “Asian 800 silver”. I’m not sure how one would know that from an image though.

 

Going off the hunch that it is Persian/Iranian, I looked up those silver markings and I think I found it! I believe the mark I circled in orange matches the top mark on my item. And it is definitely a stamp as I can see the indentation of it when I look down inside the vase. The numbers seem like they were added at another time with a different type of tool.

 

The symbol on my item matching the one that I circled actually translates from Persian language to “84” indicating that it is 875/000 silver. So the person that told me it was Asian 800 silver knew from that marking. Now as for the makers name (which is under the symbols) that remains a mystery.

 

What I see of the marking on your item is not the same as the mark you have circled.

 

This is my item. This is the marking I’m referring to. It’s the same as the one I found online, but it’s just so tiny. My iPhone is zoomed in all the way and it’s difficult to capture with the zoom and glare.

 

Yes, it is a Persian/Iranian silver vase. Persia is the Greek name for Iran, Iran is the Iranian name.
It desparately needs a silver cloth.

Yours says 84 in Parsi, which means .840 silver fineness.
The mark below it is probably the maker's name.
The scratched number is not original, it may have been added by a previous owner for insurance purposes.

Just a general remark: There is a lot of confusion about the Iranian 84 mark, because the mark as such was copied from the Russian 84 zolotnik mark, which stands for .875 silver. However, the Iranian 84 mark stands for .840 silver.

 

Most people who handle a lot silver can recognize an approximate fineness even if an item is as tarnished as this little vase.

 

Thank you for the information!

 

good detective work WhitneyB, welcome to the forum