Good day, friends. I have this Dutch gravy ladle which I have enjoyed reading up on. When one concentrates too much on British flatware and their hallmarks, one fails to appreciate that there are other countries and hallmarks as well. Please see pics of the spoon and its hallmarks. I tried to get the clearest pics I’m able.
The spoon is about 16 cm long. Please see the pic showing the hallmarks.
On the left is the lion passant typically facing the “wrong” way as compared to the British lion. The “2” below the lion indicates a fineness of .833 silver. Next is the Minerva head with a “M” on the helmet. This is the duty mark, and the “M” indicates the Schoonhoven assay office. The year letter “T” indicates 1929.
But it is the Dutch maker’s mark which confounds me! Please could anyone help me identifying it?
Regards
Jan
Certainly, no-one can be blamed for not hazarding a guess as to who that maker might be! The mark is unreadable. So I enlisted the aid of my clever son who re-took the picture, but at a different angle and using all kinds of settings. I hope this time someone might be able to identify this Dutch maker.
Regards
Jan
Hello Jan,
Looks to me as AK47.
Don’t know who followed Jan Boon for the use of the “AK47” mark,
since he left to Rotterdam in 1925, according to this document.
Hope it gets you somewhere in your research.
Regards,
Nico
Thank you, Nico, you are a great help. Your document helped me understand that the origin of the “AK” seems to be Adrianus Kuijlenburg Pz {1862-1882). And Jan Boon (1893-1925), cousin of his widow, is an in-law who used a close version of the maker’s mark. Now there’s also an Albert Kuipers (1871-1925) coming into the picture, he used the mark AK49 in a rectangular box, quite different to my spoon’s mark which seems to be an AK47 in a six-sided box.
I also found the site “Verwoerd Ceramics Online” which shows the silversmith “A.V. de Graan-Kruyt (1972- )” having a mark very much like mine, in a similar six-sided box (see pic). Whether A.V. de Graan-Kruyt is a later family member I don’t know, but I do see the initials A and K occurring in his name. My spoon was made in 1929, so it’s floating somewhere between Albert Kuipers and A.V. de Graan-Kruyt. I don’t know how I’ll solve this one! Regards
Jan
