I saw this piece online this morning and am totaly perplexed. We know that Mauser is American and that the unicorn is his mark. Has the seller misidentified the piece? Is there a British unicorn mark? Is the whole thing fake?
Under the picture it says "also on base with Unicorn symbol and England - (from Mauser Co.) It sold for $80.
dbahan - thanks for joining us here on silver-collector.com…since we live in the same town it’s sure gotten to be a small world! As many of you know, I consider Mauser to be among the finest late 19th c. American silver, bar none, and have been collecting it for years…so I know the unicorn. Your unicorn is at least very similar to, if not identical to, the common Mauser mark. I have never seen “England” used in conjunction with the Mauser mark, and I’m not aware of any Mauser being produced outside the US. Are there other marks on the item? I don’t think I’ve ever seen any Mauser with just the unicorn and not the word “sterling”. Most Mauser holloware has four marks: the unicorn, the word sterling, 928/1000 FINE, and a pattern number. Most flatware has the unicorn, “sterling” and perhaps a patent date.
In any event I’d say its not Mauser, and without other marks, probably not even sterling. I’ll take a look at some of my UK books, who knows, perhaps there was a unicorn running around Jolly Ole England…
Regards,
Uncle Vic
Typo above - 925/1000 FINE, not 928…
Uncle Vic
Vic, at what point did Mauser start with the “Mauser MFG.” mark instead of just the unicorn? Thanks.
Best I can tell probably about 1898, but they only used the “mfg” on certain items. For example, I have two bread trays that look identical, one with the unicorn and “mfg”, and the other with just the unicorn. Another possible difference between items with “mfg” and not is the apparent lack of a pattern number on the items marked “Mauser Mfg Co” with “New York” underneath.
Uncle Vic
Unfortunately Uncle Vic is no longer with us having passed away in 2012.
I don’t think we can add much, if anything, to the above notes about Mauser. If you have any specific questions please start a new topic.
Phil
