Good day, friends.
I have this silver teaspoon, 13.2 cm long, marked in German style with the maker’s mark AWS, the fineness 800 and the half moon and crown. Please see two pics of that spoon.
You would think I don’t have anything to be concerned about. Of course I delved into the history of the firm of Carl August Wellner & sons on the internet. After reading I found that the firm was known exclusively for its silver plating. Nowhere was it stated that the firm also made flatware of 800 purity. I found examples of flatware perfectly identical to my spoon, but they were all advertised as plated. And they all had an elephant mark stamped after the hallmarks. After a torturous stint of searching I did come across something (see pic), but it only deepened my uncertainty.
I run the risk of having to hear from you folk that I am being unduly concerned. But please see that the AWS mark on this 3rd pic is not exactly the same as the mark on my spoon. There are also small differences looking at the half moon as well as the crown. Also, the marks on my spoon are only 7 mm long in total. And they are so neatly spaced that I suspect that they have been applied all together with one punch (if such a practice even exists). Please could someone more familiar with this silversmithing company help out with suggestions as to the genuineness of my spoon?
Regards
Jan
Did some searching over coffee, and thought I had struck paydirt when I spotted several listings, in various places, for a pair of AWS 800 spoons! Turns out they’re all from the same seller, who scrounged them from an estate sale, and the markings aren’t even remotely like yours. I suspect the seller in this case is just taking a wild guess.
But then I spotted this, which is at least “interesting:” From the auction listing, “Each with impressed maker’s mark, crown and crescent mark and 800.”
And they are so neatly spaced that I suspect that they have been applied all together with one punch (if such a practice even exists).
I don’t think I’d worry about this aspect of it. British hallmarks tend to be uneven, because they’re applied piecemeal, one part by the maker, other parts by the assay office, and the assay office’s punches change every year. But a maker who’s doing his own hallmark would be smart to do it with a single, unified punch - much more efficient production.
Jeff, I am indebted to you. Thank you for participating. What I read in your replies are that you do not share my concerns. I’m willing to admit I could have been wrong. You see, what caused the concern is that the very complete and detailed history of AWS gives no inkling of the production of 800 purity spoons. The only indication I saw was that one isolated, undescribed AWS mark with half moon and crown, similar to mine. Why would the firm’s history be so incomplete?
Your link you gave, Jeff, is about that monster service which I also had come across. It is quite poorly described by the seller, with no indication as to probable time (year) of production. Similar spoons advertised by other sellers, having the same shape and pattern, with the addition of wording and the elephant mark, is given as “plated”.
It makes one think there cannot be too many of the “800” pieces of flatware made by AWS, going around, with that company specializing so in plated items.
I’m looking forward to see if anyone out there is able to shed more light!
Regards
Jan.
A lot of the auction houses are notorious for providing very little information, probably because they expect bidders to come look at the lots in person, rather than relying on online verbiage. Few photos, minimal description, some information that often seems to be pure guesswork.
I’m still a little puzzled by that auction result. When you add in commission, it would have come to $3000, plus State tax. Even though the price of silver was much lower in 2019 than it is today, that’s still barely equal to the melt value (228 ounces x $16 per ounce x 0.8 purity). At that price, you could have bought the service, sat on it for a few years, then sold it for scrap at quite a profit.
And my explorations, like yours, indicate that AWS was a maker of plate - there doesn’t seem to be a word about sterling or coin silver.
Murky, indeed.
Jeff, thank you, you used the right word indeed: murky. So now I’ve become convinced that in order to delve into the murkiness, we must establish what we know. I have studied the history of the Wellner business and have compiled my own summary of relevant facts. I hope the administrators of the forum will accept my effort when I copy my report as my reply. Please see.
Regards
Jan
My summary begins in Aue, Germany. Aue is a small town in Germany at the outlet of the river Schwarzwasser into the river Zwickauer Mulde in the Ore Mountains, and has roughly 16 000 inhabitants. The town was a machine-building and cutlery manufacturing centre in East German times. In 1479, tin and silver mining began, leading to an upswing in the town’s fortunes.
Ernst August Geitner (1783–1852), inventor of German silver, founded Auerhammer German silver works in 1829, thereby laying the groundwork for the town’s development into a centre for German silver cutlery manufacture.
In about 1834 “our” Carl August Wellner’s father Christian (who used to be a miner) found employment in Dr. Geitner’s nickel silver factory, where he learned the various manual steps of nickel silver production. In about 1854 Christian divided his business between his two sons, the then 30-year-old Carl August Wellner receiving the smelting works, in which he built up the still young spoon production processes by hand and under his own name. From then on, his brother Gottlieb supplied the nickel silver required for this purpose.
In due course the first spoon rolling mill was acquired. This laid the foundation for machine-based production and initiated the development that subsequently led the name “August Wellner” to world fame. At the time of Carl’s retirement in 1892, he handed the business over to family members as well as some trusted employees, but still remained faithful to his daily work at the foot-operated lathe until shortly before his death. He was a stickler for quality of the silverware produced. It was to him a matter of course that no piece of cutlery should leave the manufactory with even the slightest doubt as to its perfection.
By 1913 “Wellner silver” became synonymous with German workmanship. By 1924 cutlery from the Wellner manufactory dominated the international market, with 11 branches throughout Germany, 47 foreign representatives and over 5 000 employees, the business successfully held its own against all other big cutlery companies. It is important to consider that at this time all the cutlery produced by this firm was plated German silver!
So what about the spoons we see made from 800 purity silver and marked AWS with the half moon and crown? If what the picture (please see in one of the pics above, gleaned from the internet), tells us is true, these silver spoons were only produced for about one decade (c. 1928-1938). Why withhold this information from the exhaustive text of the history?
By 1930 Wellner had been producing over 122 models of plated cutlery, and had the largest assortment of all time, which included numerous design models created by famous architects and artists. The two World Wars were eventful years for the company. After the reunification of Germany and the years that followed, the tradition-rich company was once again faced with major changes. By 1990, only 500 of the former 5 000-plus employees were still employed at the Aue site. After years of mismanagement and several attempts to revive the business, cutlery production continued in the following years with this small workforce. Finally, in 2001, the remaining production facilities of the once glorious company were up for sale.
Who took over from then on, I think, are not important for this summary.
Regards
Jan