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HANAU SILVER
From the middle to the end of the nineteenth century copies of old silver, and items designed in an
amalgamation of historic styles, satisfied customer demand and preference. Many firms in Europe and in the
United States produced this type of silver. Generally speaking, the recognition of reproduction silver does
not present a problem since it is marked according to the laws of the country of origin. Contrary to this,
the antique silver industry of Hanau chose to mark its output with fantasy marks. It is difficult to say
if this was practiced with a clear intent to deceive. But it is strange that the spurious marks somewhat
resemble old marks, and are also harmonized with the style of the piece. For example, French rococo style
reproductions are marked with French looking marks, German seventeenth century-inspired pieces got
German-looking marks, and so on. Furthermore, most Hanau firms chose as company marks styles reminiscent of
seventeenth and eighteenth century maker's marks. |
Mark stamping as practiced in Hanau would have been completely illegal in France or England, or for that
matter in any other German city where a guild supervised the marking. But Hanau had a long tradition as a
free-trade city.
With the production of "antique silver", Hanau found a market niche, which brought its silver
manufacturers enormous prosperity and worldwide reputation. The 'father' of this industry was August
Schleissner. The other leading firm of Hanau was Neresheimer, founded in 1890 as a partnership of August
and Ludwig Neresheimer with Jean Schlingloff. Right from the start Neresheimer offered a wide range of
highly decorative objects like nefs, tankards, coconut and nautilus cups, and other sumptuous sideboard
pieces.
Most of the information on this page are obtained from Dorothea Bustyn's articles on ASCAS-Association of Small Collectors of Antique Silver- website: www.ASCASonline.org
HANAU SILVER MAKER'S MARKS
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This is a page of 'The What is? Silver Dictionary' of A Small Collection of
Antique Silver and Objects of vertu, a 1500 pages richly illustrated website offering all you need to know about
antique silver, sterling silver, silverplate, Sheffield plate, electroplate silver,
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