Looking to price a pair of coin spoons

Hey

So in my Pricing Items to Sell thread, a number of members suggested simply posting some items here and seeing what happens.

So here goes. I've got eight coin spoons that we've been staring at for way too long, not knowing how to price them to sell. To keep things easier, at least I think it will, I thought I'd post them in pairs that are dissimilar so they won't get confused in conversation. I also thought it best to only post these two first, in case I'm doing something heinously wrong.

Typically I'll have a pair of pictures for each, front and back, next to a ruler. If there's a hallmark, I'll try to get a good picture of that/them. Please don't hesitate to tell me if the pictures aren't good, or if something needs to be seen better. This would be the first time I'm doing this so. Having a file size of only 640x480/1mb is a shame, too, as much detail is being lost.

We have item numbers for everything, which I'm leaving because otherwise I'd very much get myself confused later.
1245 spoon silver with 1906 denmark 2 kroner coin
This has a pair of hallmarks on the back.

1624 silver ornate coin spoon with 1765 coin (thaler?)

Thanks!

 

That picture size is only a suggestion, not a rule. The rule is under 1 megabyte. You can, as you have done, edit parts of larger pictures to show detail. The first coin looks odd as it appears to have a head on both sides. I cannot identify the coin, though.

Sometimes giving the maker's marks a bit of a clean will make them clearer.

Coins set in bowls of spoons are usually associated with toddy ladles, which these are not, I'd say. They are unusual.

 

All of the coins in all of my spoons have been identified, or roughly so. The larger of the two spoons has a 1906 2 kroner from Denmark, the smaller is a 1765 that we think is a thaler.

Should I provide better pics of the coin itself within a spoon?

That was part of my concern about the photo size. The original size of my pics were 4688x1819. I made a copy of all of them, then I had my program resize them all making the largest side of them 640 pixels. The forum post about posting pics says 640x480 / 1mb. There's a huge difference between that, with compression being what it is today. I can get that same photo to 1mb, but it would be 2204x855, quite a bit larger than 640x480.

 

I oersonally think 1000 pixels across is fine, and it may help while editing the pictures to tweak the contrast a bit. The nearer the picture is to actually looking at the thing, the more likely you are to get an accurate identification.

 

You need to polish these.
It will make it easier to read the marks and see the coins. For the most part, you also will realize more money for a clean item than a dirty or tarnished item. There are some exceptions.

Since these coins have been put in spoons as souvenir items, they have already lost the value of the coin itself. So cleaning won't harm them.

 

I forgot to say, coin spoons are not that unusual.
You can always do a search of ebay for completed items to see how many sold and at what price.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_arm...on&LH_Complete=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2045573.m1684

 

I don't know what a "toddy ladle" is. When I said I had eight spoons, I was referring to on hand at my desk. In our stock of things to identify, price, and sell, we have well over forty more just like these, where the bowl of the spoon is (was) a coin, or a coin is incorporated into it. There's also a bunch that have the coin in the bowl and a coin in the handle as well.

 

An antique dealer fainted when you typed that.

Two more fainted when you posted it.

 

I've changed the pics in my original post.

Here are more for each spoon. I'm not sure if is clear, but the figure of the man is carrying a large sack in each arm.

...and have 1000 pixel limit is such a difference!

 

Here is a sold 1906 2 Kroner coin spoon. Sorry, to say the pictures are not up any longer, but you can see what it sold for and description:
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/VINTAGE-STER...-KRONER-1906-COIN-SPOON-DG-MARK-/111869914223

Here is a spoon website (Spoon Planet) with page(s) on coin spoons. The following link does have a pic of a Danish coin spoon, but not like yours.
http://spoonplanet.com/coinembedded.html
More on coin spoons:
http://spoonplanet.com/coin.html

As to the hallmarks, the 1st spoon is the only one I can see the markings:
The Three Towers is the assay mark guaranteeing 800/1000 silver purity. The shape and style of this tower mark looks like it may be the one first used in 1913. There is a number under the towers for the specific year. I can not make out the numbers.

The oval mark on the opposite end is that of the actual assayer. It looks like the mark for Christian F. Heise, Large H with c and f inside the H (1904-1932).

http://www.925-1000.com/dm_Assay.html

The name in the middle is that of the silversmith. Gee, I can't make out the first name. It looks like Vmub/e/r?? Hansen. I've gone through a listing of Danish silversmith names and none seem to fit. I have included a few edited pics in hopes someone else will have better like IDing the maker and specific year.
http://www.925-1000.com/denmarkA.html

--- Susan

 

If you have 40 coin spooons,I'd be inclined to enter the whole lot in a decent auction. They are sure to fetch enough over the metal value for the comossion to be covered, and as a collection they may attract quite a few rival bidders. I'd set a reserve at the metal value.
This would be a reasonable compromise if you do not want to deal with them individually.

The spoons shown are both European, I think I see Danish marks on the first one.

 

I forget to mention that I weighed the spoons the Denmark kroner, the larger one, is 43g, the smaller one with the figure is 18g.

 

These are typical of small silver items where the weight is relatively unimportant, you'd not sell for less than the silver value but they are certain to fetch well over that.

 

Susan, you were close.

V Mortensen
http://www.925-1000.com/denmarkV.html

 

Your thought about the auction is thoroughly valid. However, we have not found an auction house that has had a reserve and thusly we have had *repeated* bad experiences with auctions, both with locals and the big ones. Items that we KNEW the values on didn't get nearly what they should have because the house didn't allow reserves. We sold some stuff through Heritage, which we knew to be worth close to twenty thousand, and then they appraised for close to sixteen thousand. Our check was a little more than five thousand.

 

Maybe some other members can confirm if this is typical US practice. Britain has hundreds of reputable auction houses and all allow reserves, usually around or just below the lower estimate.

 

I might have been a little close, but you are good! Gee, these old eyes couldn't decipher that name. 925-1000 even has a pic of the mark saying "Ålborg 1896-1957."

--- Susan

 

Your mother, her sisters and their mother and grandmothers all turned over in their graves when they learned you would put out your tarnished silver spoons for all to see.

BTW - been in the business since 78.

 

I agree that tarnished silver should be cleaned.

E]
I agree that tarnished silver should be polished. Tarnish is not patina.

I've also been in the business since the mid 70's