I found this candlestick at an auction, I haven’t bought it yet, it only says it’s English, but you can see markings in the background. The only visible marking is an X, but there are 3 more markings that are not visible and that seem slightly smaller than the X. What do you think, please? Thanks
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The photos of the marks aren’t clear enough to establish anything. I’d guess that these are silverplate, however. Anyone who’s selling sterling knows that it’s sterling, and will say so.
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Believe me, I’ve seen a lot of sellers selling items as plated and have sterling engraved, English hallmark too. There are people who just sell items, they are not silver experts.
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Well, does that look like a real UK hallmark to you? To me, it doesn’t. But in the absence of a better photo, I don’t think anyone can say for certain.
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Bart, you beat me to it with the image manipulation - I think possibly a Dutch mark: lion rampant for .934 silver before 1953 and export key mark for duty restitution. The letters look like A C X.
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Phil, let’s wait until APC posts better quality photos.
He can’t provide better pictures. These are the photos from the auction site. He doesn’t own it yet.
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That depends on his tolerance for ambiguity. “Feeling lucky, punk?” 
Many auction houses are still behaving as they did when all auctions were in-person. They provide one or two lousy photos, and fill the description with weasel words, like, “May be Georgian silver.” They could then deny responsibility when it turned out to be cheap silverplate made a month ago. After all, the bidder was expected to examine the item before making his bid, and to decide for himself what it really was. “No hallmarks? Well, you saw that when you examined the item before the auction, didn’t you?!”
They’ve never adjusted to the world of online auctions, which need copious photos and accurate, reliable descriptions.
And I agree that these are not candlesticks. I think these are more likely the “outrigger” parts of an elaborate multi-piece epergne, now separated from the original center piece.
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The auction is the one who said it was a candlestick, not me…
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Here in Brazil, we don’t have large auction houses. We have an auctioneer, who actually doesn’t do anything and earns a 5% commission. People and stores use the auctioneer’s website to advertise items, usually with bad photos and poor descriptions. There was one auction in particular where I bought 3 silver items, 2 of which were as if they were silver plated, a Mexican medallion and an Iranian vase, and the last one was a Peruvian sculpture that was as if it were iron, so you can get an idea of the level of the sellers.
I’m going to buy the item and then tell you about it. Thanks for your opinions!
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