ID of silver marks?

These are on a ladle. Do they say anything?


(best I can do from online photo)

 

Strange. Diamond shape on the bottom sort of resembles a French solid silver maker's mark. Maybe letters P and H on the bottom and a person with a cross? But the other 2 don't go with that assumption. Middle looks like the Great Seal of the United States (which is not used in silver marking) and a "sun?"

 

Isn't it some kind of imperial eagle?

 

Great Seal of the United States

 

I was wondering if the eagle might be Portuguese, or Mexican?

I'm not seeing letters in that bottom mark, but it does look like a person with a cross.

The ladle is on eBay France.

 

The ones I'm familiar with have 2 heads.

 

The "sun" mark looks a little like the Taiwan national sun.

 

Look at this c1800 Canton mark:


Is that lozenge mark based on this Canton mark? That might support the idea of Taiwanese (I think), and I can easily imagine someone there using an American style eagle.

 

The Great Seal of the United States mark is simple.Anything an embassy bought in country was marked.Plates,cups,silverware,etc....................

 

It is also advisable to post an image of the entire object, and something that best shows off the design and details of the object, as this can help identify the object as well because certain patterns were used as certain dates.

If you could try again with a close-up photo of the maker marks, to get the photo in sharper focus, it would be great, or if you don't have the original item, and this came from a website somewhere, provide the link to that site as it may provide other clues.

 

Are you saying the eagle mark indicates that the item was purchased for an American embassy?

 

The photo of the mark is as good as I can get. There is no side view, but here's what I've got:




It's about 15" long and weighs close to 300g.

 

Can see a resemblance to the U.S. Great Seal, but don't believe it is - if a citation for the the Great Seal being stamped on embassy silver is available, would like to add it to my reference files, not anything I've seen or heard of before.

By style, though certainly also made elsewhere, to my eye, it has a very Continental look, an upturned tipped fiddle with a mid-rib, the French called it 'Uniplat', have seen similar drops on European silver too. Believe it's probably Sardinian from Chambery, take a look at the marks here: http://www.silvercollection.it/TORINOHALLMARKS.html





~Cheryl

 

Hmmm...

Wish I had a better look at that eagle.

Sardinia makes more sense to me than Taiwan, especially with this being in France. And the eagle being something other than an American eagle also seems more likely.

 

Ah! That makes much more sense!

 

Comparison to crummy pic of marks on a Chambery drageoir on a French site: https://www.proantic.com/en/display.php?mode=obj&id=471687




~Cheryl

 

Well I bought the thing, so when I get it, we'll see what we see.

 

The deal has gone south. At the moment it is dubious that I will ever receive the item.

 

To my surprise, it has arrived. A heavy piece and very utilitarian. A bit shorter than I thought. Somehow I saw 37cm when seller said 35cm (34.5cm by my measure - well over 13"). Weight is correct. A few dents to the bowl. Assuming Cheryl's link to be correct (thank you Cheryl), this is Sardinia (Piedmont) and Chambery (so it's Italian - but on the French border). I can't get a really crisp look at the maker's mark, but it appears to be the initials AI (possibly AT) below a cross and above a dot (grain-de-remède).

 

Most silver sites have some errors, but Giorgio's is usually pretty good (and he is Italian) - can't see any reason to think it anything other than Sardinian, from Chambery...

~Cheryl