Featured New mark to me - 750. Where from and what to do with it?

Saw this with silver-plate white metal scrap and thought it looked right for silver so picked it out. The only mark is the 750 with the serial number. I'm pretty sure it is silver not plate; including the fact that it is not cast but hollow. I really like the sculptural bits, but it's a utilitarian server holder (without the pot) and obviously has serious damage that would require repair beyond my abilities. So I suspect it isn't worth the cost to repair and should be consigned to silver scrap. But hoping someone can dispute that? And identify where and when the 750 mark would be from?

 

750 is a gold mark.......not silver.
if anything...... 950 would be a silver mark.....but i'm just not seeing that here.

u need a metal tester...and from the info here the 18K gold testers...work fine with silver and last longer and test gold too !!

 

Germany?

https://www.smpub.com/ubb/Forum7/HTML/000686.html

Like the Victory figures.

 

Can't vouch for seller's assertions, but:

https://www.etsy.com/dk-en/listing/529757106/victorian-locket-markowitsch-and-scheid

 

A numeric '750' (equivalent to 12 Löth) was a fairly common German fineness mark, usually dating to a few years prior to the minimum fineness being legislated to .800 in the mid 1880s. It was also the lowest standard in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and a few other European countries, but it was more likely to be indicated by the assay mark...

~Cheryl

 

It's a pretty thing, would be a shame to scrap it - most likely a held a nice glass fruit bowl...

~Cheryl

 

& that's why we're Antiquers dot calm.... I still have much to learn here !!!

 

I have a couple of these (other styles) missing their glass inserts. Would it even be realistic to try to find something that fit, especially without a name on the silver?

 

that could be a tough row to hoe....... you'd want it to be as close as possible to the original.....

 

Even lower fineness was produced too, might find the occasional German piece with a '625', though much more commonly expressed as '10 Löth'; and it's fairly common to find Danish 11 Lødig (.687) silver, but it could also have been as low as 10 Lød in the 19th century, though seldom found. I have a spoon with an unusual '650' stamp similar to the OP's, that's a bit under 10½ L., has no maker's mark, only a prick-engraved 'Marie A. Petersen 1881' - could be from Denmark, but suspect it might be from the Schleswig-Holstein region, which was Prussian in 1881...

~Cheryl

 

Eh, suppose it depends on what you want - if for resale, probably wouldn't be worth the time or money to find or have made an appropriate bowl; if you like it enough to keep, you could let it sit in its damaged glory (I'm lucky enough to have a jeweler who likes to play with silver), while keeping on eye out for a 'make-do' liner. Is it round or oval? You could even start it on eBay for enough over scrap to cover your costs and see what happens, I'm often suprised at the results on interesting pieces that have more damage than I want to deal with - but, of course, it's all up to you...

~Cheryl

 

Should also mention there are a few companies that stock some fairly standard glass liners as well as doing custom-work, and an old friend used to have his done by a local glass-blower - and Replacements used to carry some orphaned glass liners, not sure if they still do...

~Cheryl

 

Hi,
I have several medium sized sterling frames for salts with broken and missing glass inserts. I had a friend who does slump glass pieces make me cobalt blue inserts for my frames.
greg

 

One of those handles would make a cool hood ornament.

Some older Egyptian tourist items are marked as 600 silver. Tend to be things like little boxes & sometimes gilt.

 

So far as I know, .600 is still the low standard for Egyptian silver - I have at least one .600 souvenir spoon...

~Cheryl

 

Was your spoon made at all recently? I don't really know, but got the impression, when I was still paying attention to Egyptian jewellery, that maybe they were shifting toward western standards & preferences in silver purity, at least for tourist items. Have seen pieces marked 925 in both numeral systems. I can imagine they might have difficulty selling new work in 600 silver when so much of the world tourists come from just expects silver to be sterling. Guess the other question would be whether your spoon is of the souvenir type or was it made for domestic use? Might still be using 600 for utilitarian items at home.

 

Agree that it is a very cool and unusual looking antique piece, would be a pity to scrap. Good suggestion to list above scrap.

 

The egyptian jewellery I've seen in situ was 925.

 

Not sure what you'd consider recent, but the .600 spoon I have here (believe I have another packed away) is a Nefertiti souvenir spoon, it is almost certainly mid 20th century, as are most, if not all, Egyptian-made souvenir spoons depicting the bust of Nefertiti. Mine only bears the Cairo marks for .600 fineness on both the finial and bowl, but other .600 souvenir spoons with full Egyptian marks can be found bearing the lotus rather than the cat, so can be firmly dated as post WWII. The majority of the nice late 19th-early 20th century Egyptian souvenir spoons were made in Germany and usually .800 fineness, occasionally having added Egyptian marks indicating the same.

Have no idea how much Egyptian .600 silver is still being made, only that it still their lowest standard (the U.S. second standard is still .900, but it's very rarely, if ever, used), along with .800, .900, and the fairly recent .925, which is not to say that sterling pieces weren't being produced prior to it being an official standard. Jewelry isn't really my area, but regarding souvenir spoons, considering the number of people who will buy cheesy silverplate pieces, doubt any great concern that their souvenirs must be sterling - I do have a few nice plated spoons, and though I most definitely prefer solid silver, have no concern at all regarding its fineness (actually kind of like it when they're a quality typical of the country)...

~Cheryl

 

At least after 1990. Funny you mentioned Egyptian souvenir spoons made in Germany. The best bracelets that look like Egyptian souvenirs I have seen were made in Germany. Nearly brought that up in the thread debating the age of the German souvenir bracelet.