Nice bit of silver from Spain I believe

[tamrock]

I picked this up today at an ARC TS I stopped by on my way out of town. I'm not finding the maker's mark, which is a hex shape cartouche with an urn in the center and is stamped 916/000, which I hope is a 91.6% purity common for silver from Spain. It cost 7 even with my rounded up donation of 53 cents. If it is solid silver alloy, I'd say I found a nice little treasure. I don't have my scale with me, but I'm thinking this little piece has gotta be at least 100 grams. Its not thingy made. We'll find out for sure when I get home.

 

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[Rented Mule]

Tamrock,

Great find! I think you are correct that this is from Spain or possibly Portugal. I’ll bet the always amazing Red-Coat can probably nail it down.

The reason for 916 fineness was that it was 11 parts out of 12 pure silver.

 

[Red-Coat]

Thank you for your vote of confidence 'Rented Mule'!

Very nice, and it is indeed Spanish. It’s from Dionisio García Gómez of Madrid. He opened his own workshop sometime in the early 1900s on an uncertain date after his apprenticeship to DH Adradas, (but he was born c1888, so that gives some idea about when). He became a renowned silversmith and was appointed Royal Silversmith to King Alfonso XIII but died prematurely in 1925. The company continued under the ownership of his widow and his three sons and then later family members until it went bankrupt in 1981.

The company’s maker mark was the ‘Grecian urn in hexagon’, shown below with the additional ‘star’ fineness mark.



In 1934, Spain adopted that star hallmark for the new standard of .915 silver, so your piece predates the introduction of that mark.

 

[tamrock]

Thanks Rented Mule and Red Coat. I do appreciate the detailed information on these find of mine.

 

[randazzo1]

That’s the kind of find that makes the stops in thrifts worth it!

 

[tamrock]

That’s the kind of find that makes the stops in thrifts worth it!

I find looking through those places have better odds of winning than any of casinos I've ever tried to score in.

 

[niffler]

Great score on that one! I haven't found much since I moved to a new town, I'm hoping for something good. In the meantime I'm jealously checking out everyone's finds.

 

[tamrock]

Great score on that one! I haven't found much since I moved to a new town, I'm hoping for something good. In the meantime I'm jealously checking out everyone's finds.

Take a little road trip with all the stops mapped out. The area I live has a lot of large thrift shops, but some the ones in the smaller towns have produced some good finds also. I like hunting those antique malls to.

 

[tamrock]

Weighed a bit more than I thought.

 

[Noah_D]

Weighed a bit more than I thought.

I spose you made out like a bandit on that one! Last time I checked a half pound of silver was worth quite a bit more than seven dollars...

 

[BillA]

I spose you made out like a bandit on that one! Last time I checked a half pound of silver was worth quite a bit more than seven dollars...

suspect it is worth more than melt, nice piece

 

[Noah_D]

suspect it is worth more than melt, nice piece

Also true.

 

[tamrock]

suspect it is worth more than melt, nice piece

Yeah maybe. It does have some condition issues in the way of dings and dents