1700s dutch teapot maybe?

British Silver What is it?
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Hi All,
I do know much about silver itself but admittedly I do not really knowing much of anything about silver teapots. I was hoping someone here might have some insight? That said, I was intrigued by this teapot found at auction in Culpeper VA. Their description: “STERLING SILVER TEA POT HEAVILY EMBOSSED STERLING SILVER TEAPOT W/WOOD HANDLE, 254 GRAMS” I figured a melt value of about $200. I won the auction at $260. thinking the $60 premium over melt value was worth it to satiate my curiosity. I may have gotten more than I bargained for.

Here is their picture-
[/img][url]http://rasmuscatalog.com/cgi-bin/mnlist.cgi?rasmus952/12461

I am not sure exactly what I have here. I thought it might even be a forgery but everyone who has eyed it (some of them a little knowledgeable) seem to think it is extremely old. I performed several hours of research and below are my notes of what I have been able to come up with-

This Teapot is Dutch and was made in Haarlem Netherlands somewhere between 1700- 1740. I cannot determine all the hallmarks but one is the mark of Haarlem.
Several of the hallmarks have been identified.

Roman Sword erect between four saltires and fleur-de-lys and beneath a crown ellipse = Haarlem, Holland Netherlands 1700s
Axe- used from 1853- to 1927 as a Dutch tax mark used on older silver items bearing old silver marks that had come back into circulation.
Lion Rampant in plain shield, crowned- is state control mark for silver purity or standard 0f .934
Letters- there are 2 an I and an R are supposed to be date mark but we have not identified these exact letters yet
Makers Mark- can’t make it out or find a match but I think we have narrowed it to several possible silversmiths of the time in Haarlem.

  1. Andries Roda in the 1710-1730s is the most likely based on designs found on several items found at a christies.com auction
  2. Pieter De Both, also in the 1720- 1730 is the second most likely also based on christies.com auction

Here are links (If they are still working) to other similar Pieter De Both pieces
1723 Pieter De Both christies.com.cn/lotfinder/L … ID=3967885
1773 Pieter De Both- christies.com/LotFinder/lot_ … ID=4399532

Here are links (If they are still working) to other similar Andries Roda pieces
1721 Andries Roda- glerum.nl/uitgebreid_zoeken-resultaat.php click the pic for a large view

Here is a link that tells us about the marks- books.google.com/books?id=DrcaAA … &q&f=false

Here is another really good Dutch hallmarks link with similar examples- 925-1000.com/Fnetherlands_Date_Code.html

This link is Danish and seems to be a serious authority on such items but I think it needs to be translated to get around such as with Google translate- zilver.nl/

I do not know if any of the pics worked out in this post but I will go back and read the pic posting instructions and try to re-post. Any input, for better or worse, will be much appreciated. Thank you!
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