Spoon Hallmark Help Wanted

[trdhrdr007]

Picked up this spoon at an estate sale. I think this is an Austrian hallmark. Pictures are not great but the best I've been able to get after several tries. What do y'all think?

 

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[Red-Coat]

Sturdy-looking spoon.

It’s either from the joint-monarchy Austria-Hungary Empire or from Hungary, depending on the date. The mark is their ‘Dianakopf’ (Diana’s head) in the style used between 1867-1922 by Austria-Hungary and then until 1937 by Hungary alone after the dissolution of the Empire. Note that although the Empire dissolved in 1918, it took the Republic of Austria until 1922 to establish a new mark (a bird’s head). The picture isn’t clear enough to tell, but if there is no letter to the right of her head, it’s pre-1872; if there is a letter it indicates the city of assay and will be between 1872-1922 for Austria-Hungary or between 1918-1937 for Hungary.

You can see the difference in the pics below (in this case A = Vienna):



If a city letter is present, the other possibilities are B (Linz), C (Prague), D (Brno), E (Krakow), F (Lwow), G (Graz), H (Bregenz), K (Klagenfurt), L (Ljubijana), M (Trieste), P (Pest), R (Kosice), T (Timisoara), U (Alba Iulia), or V (Zagreb).

The number gives you the standard for the silver with 1=935, 2=900 and 3=825 (and I believe 4 for lower alloy silver, although I’ve never seen it).

Beyond that, it’s not possible to date the piece more precisely, other than from its style or known activity period for the maker. Unfortunately, there are multiple possibilities for ‘J.W.’ as a maker and no good online sources for seeing the styles of lettering and cartouches they used. There’s a comprehensive list of ‘W’ surname makers here, but it only covers Vienna and there are no pictures:

Austrian silversmiths: The Directory of Vienna silversmiths: WA/WZ

Best I can do without a lot more effort. Googling for those maker possibilities… over to you. If there is a city letter, that would help narrow it down.

 

[Holt0222]

It almost looks like their is a V on the right.

 

[trdhrdr007]

Thanks for the information. There's a 3 to the left of the head & no letter to the right. Looks like 825 silver pre 1872.

 

[Red-Coat]

Thanks for the information. There's a 3 to the left of the head & no letter to the right. Looks like 825 silver pre 1872.

Yes, and that makes it Austria-Hungary Empire, 1867-1872 but undetermined origin unless you manage to find the maker's mark somewhere. At the time, the empire comprised Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, Galicia, Transylvania, Slavonia, Bosnia–Herzegovina, Carniola, Styria, and Tyrol (ie all of modern Austria, Hungary, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Czech republic and Slovakia; major parts of modern Romania and Ukraine; plus smaller parts of modern Poland, Serbia and northern Italy).