Ask an Expert

Hallmarks Decoded A reader wants the scoop on some mysterious flatware BY Peter Kaellgren

I have six handmade silver tablespoons with the hallmark of Chur, Switzerland. Five of them also have the initials “B” and “L” on either side Q of the hallmark. Can you help identify whether these are sterling silver or silver plate? Is there a way to determine this from the marks? — D. Brown

I agree that the mark looks like the dancing moun- tain goat found on the mark used by silversmiths at Chur, Switzerland, during the 1600s and 1700s, A however, that was a town or assay office mark. In which case it would not have been accompanied by initials. The initials are likely to be those of the manufacturer of the spoons. During the 1800s and early 1900s, it was common practice, especially in Europe, to use marks that imitated older ones from the 1600s and 1700s. Christie’s auction house calls them “prestige marks” because they are often found on historical replicas and are intended to suggest that a piece is considerably older than the actual date of manufacture. Silver factories in Hanau, Germany, often used these kinds of marks. “B L” are likely the initials of the maker or manufacturer, I can’t quite make out what is engraved under who may have chosen to copy the dancing mountain goat mark the initials. Is it a series of numbers? I think I because Boch in German means a male goat or billy goat. The “B” can see the number “12” on one. This might indi- in the initials could stand for the surname “Boch.” Trademarks cate that the spoons came from a numbered set and maker’s marks often make reference to the name of the (likely made for an institution like a convent or maker, manufacturer, firm, or town where a piece was produced. a military company). If the spoons were indeed The quality of the engraved owner initials (LC in script) on made as part of a set for an institution, they are the handles varies considerably even among these six spoons, less likely to be silver and are more likely made suggesting they were assembled over a period of time. If they had of some kind of a durable white metal alloy that been acquired all at once, it is likely that the same person would looked like silver but stood up to everyday use. have engraved them and the initials would have been more or Alloys that included nickel and other white less identical. Further, if the spoons were made of silver for a metals were often used to make everyday table private client, the engraving would more likely be of impeccable utensils in Germanic/Central European coun- quality, while these appear to have been rather sloppily done. tries in the 1800s. If the spoons were intended to be used at an institution or by a I do not think your spoons are likely to be group like a military company, it didn’t matter so much how the silver. To confirm, though, I suggest that you find engraving appeared so long as you could read the initials. a jeweller who could test them for silver content. I suspect that they are simplified versions of a historic spoon type and were likely manufac- tured in nickel alloy sometime between 1850 and 1910. They may have been made to complete an already existing, much older, flatware service owned by an institution.

Peter Kaellgren is curator emeritus in the ROM’s

Department of World Cultures. Brown. D. courtesy with inquiry, provided Photos

12 ROM Magazine Fall 2013