Hello all!
We’d really appreciate if anyone can point us to more information on these markings. It’s from a sterling silver tea set (5 pieces, tray not from the set) circa 17th or 18th century, likely English or Portuguese. It’s been in the family for well over 100 years.
Thank you all so much!
Monkha
It’s certainly not English sterling silver. No recognizable hallmarks.
Do you know that it’s sterling, or have you been told that it’s sterling. Family legends are often unreliable.
Hi Jeff! Thanks for your help. We were told but never tested any items. All we did was put some ice in it and it actually melts pretty quickly.
We did some more research and the P with crown symbol seems to be from Porto, Portugal. We were expecting it to be English or Portuguese.
The zig zag line (I’m sure you’re familiar with) is the assayer’s testing mark, I suppose to test the silver. We found nothing on the AR, ATR, or AIR symbol, though.
Maybe someone else will have better luck than I have, but I have found no evidence that the Porto assay office existed before about 1887, and no evidence for a “P” mark for it anywhere. An “L” mark is Lisbon, but I’ve never seen anything else.
Any metal that conducts heat well will melt ice quickly. Alas, that also include copper, which is often what’s beneath silver plate.
Got it, thanks!
We intend to have these appraised now. It will be interesting to find more about them.
Just FYI, this is where I found the info above:
Thanks!
That all certainly supports the idea that it’s mid-19th Century Portuguese. The zigzag assay marks are reassuring. No one would ever have submitted a silver plate set to an assay office! Looks to be in very nice condition, too.