Featured SIlver Box 18th Century? HELP with Marks

Well, I finally made it here....thanks to Skezeks!!!!! I picked this up for $16.50 at a mall,and after I got it cleaned up, it started looking better than I thought....It has no marks on the bottom,but two touchmarks on either side of the container near the lid.....THANKS in advance!I understand a lot of my old friends are here from the Ebay boards,minus the troll jerks.......Cant wait to see everyone!
Zip

 

Hi Zip,
Welcome to the wonderful world of antiquers.
greg

 

Hi, Zippershark -- I didn't know you well, but we've said Hello before.

Fig

 

Oh, and I don't know much about silver so can't help with your question about marks.

 

Hi Zip! I saw your posts about this piece on the old boards and have been puzzling over the possibilities since. Unfortunately getting no where.

The picture you posted here of the "mountain/beastie" seems a lot clearer than over there, but is there any chance you can post another with a bigger (but still in focus) view of that mark itself, cropping out the wider field?

 

Hey Zippershark! Long time no see (er, read...)!

 

Hi there Zip, so glad you are here Stay warm as we are getting a cold freeze up here in the AV.

 

Guten Morgen and Hallo. zis iss Berlin speaking. saw it on "the other" board as well, but I wondered a bit about it being tested as silver.the crown mark looks rather like one for pewter. if it tested really silver then it could be French countryside/small town. form looks like the old apothecary containers.

 

Welcome to this nice board! In the event you decide it's not silver, I do have quite a few books on pewter marks including Tardy's book on French pewter and I'd be happy to look.

I did just a quick look and the crown does look similar to the (not very clear in the book) poinçons officiels des mesures décimales sous le Second Empire (1861 à 1873) une couronne impériale.

(official hallmarks decimal measures under the Second Empire (1861-1873) imperial crown)

 

Zips Looks like 3 tiny x's under each line above the band of the bottom of the crown.

 

Welcome, Zip!! I haven't been back to Ebay since this forum started. I didn't need the hassle. I tried to message everyone I could think of to join us. Glad you finally made it.

 

The image is awfully small for me to see details and I couldn't enlarge it.

 

WOW!!! It is SO cool to see so many of my old friends....SO glad I'm in a place that's troll free for a change!!! Bakers, I will try and get some better pics up later today...This little box sure doesnt LOOK like pewter, that said, I'm on the fringe here, this being just something I had a "hunch" on.....I had some Swedish silver years ago, that had this same sort of punch work looking decoration, but again, if it ain't paper, Im no one to talk to....I think you DID message me on this, Thelma, and It got lost in the shuffle....I hope I can contribute is some small ways to the group......Anyway, I am TICKLED to be here!!!! Will get some pics up of my little mystery box and again, It is SO GOOD to see all of you again....I didnt realizehow much Id missed you all!!! Zip

 

Probably about right on dating, though it could be earlier - Spanish Colonial, Guatemalan. Those marks can be found both alone and together, my eyesight is too poor to make it out in your pic, but the 'mountain' mark is usually Santiago (St. James) on horseback over the twin volcanoes at the old capital of Santiago de los Caballeros de Goathemala (Antigua), though it sometimes has one or three peaks, and can have a lion rather than Santiago. Boylan's 'Spanish Colonial Silver' doesn't address that mark falling out of use after the 1773 earthquake and volcanic eruptions as in this link, but it doesn't seem unlikely: http://www.925-1000.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=33223

Don't find any similar form in the Boylan book, but it's a nice-looking piece - what's the size?

~Cheryl

 

HI Cheryl!!!! You never cease to amaze me....Now that I look at the mark with your description, it DOES look like two volcanoes, and I believe a lion over them. WOW! Initially I said there were no marks on the bottom, but there is some sort of registration marked etched in the bottom which reads: HP F 23, right below that is a sort of saw mark that looks like five shark fins lined up in a row....I will postapiuc of that here.directly. THANK YOU so much, Cheryl, and THANK ALL OF YOU SO MUCH!!!!

 

Oh crap, size is about 2 1/4" high and about 3 1/4" in diameter!

 

The zig-zag 'shark fin' mark would be a 'burilada', an assay scrape - the other might be some sort of inventory mark...

~Cheryl