Hello friends, please can you help out with the name of the maker on this Dutch spoon? I see a “VB” over a star with a dot each side. After long searching I have not been able to find that mark.
The other marks tell me the assay office is The Hague, the date is 1853 and the fineness is .833.
I will be appreciative of any suggestion as to who made it.
Regards
Jan
Paulus Arnoldus van der Beek pseudo mark?
Bartholomew, thank you for responding. While I appreciate your suggestion, I have fervently hoped the mark is genuine. Of course it is true that pseudo marks have been used extensively by Dutch reproducers of silver flatware.
It is said that the introduction of pseudo marks occurred around 1860 by Dutch silversmiths in the cities of Amsterdam, The Hague, Schoonhoven, Sneek and Groningen. If this is true, my spoon being made in 1853 might exclude it from the falsies.
I do feel that my spoon’s marks look too clean & neatly struck, and too orderly, for them to be pseudo. And while it is true that there does exist a VB pseudo mark, the appearance of that mark is much rougher that the VB on my spoon.
Regarding your suggestion that the mark is by Van der Beek, yes, it is probable. The spoon’s duty mark has a “C”, which indicates The Hague as the assay office. Van der Beek worked from 's-Gravenhage, which is the same place, from 1854-1880. My spoon is dated 1853. Oops!
I so wish I could cut through this Gordian knot! Any further help and advice, please?
Regards
Jan
Thank you for your kind words. It means a lot to me.
