This silver crab has been in my family for a VERY long time and I have searched until I am blue in the face trying to find out where and when it originated. I guess what it may be valued at would be interesting. Any help in those directions would be most appreciated. The only marks on it are what appear to be the numbers 93 The mark is on the inside of the top to the crab box.
Thanks in advance.
It’s most probably American and silver plated. The absence of the word “sterling” or the number “925” brands it as plated. I saw a very similar crab box recently at an antique shop in Fairhope, Alabama (I live in Baton Rouge and we go that way frequently) and the owner of the shop insisted it was sterling…I didn’t argue, but it was clearly plated. A good trick is to rub the surface briskly with your thumb, then smell the metal…an acrid smell is plated, sterling as virtually no smell. The smell is the heated copper under the thin coating of silver.
Regards,
Uncle Vic