Help identifying marking Scottish Quaich?

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Hello, I have been unable to find this exact item or marking. I believe it may be a Scottish Quaich? Any info appreciated.

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It does indeed look like a quaich or shallow Scottish two-handled drinking vessel. And since it has the word “sterling” on it and a code of letters and numbers arranged around a bird that is probably an eagle, it is likely made in the US.

The initials of the maker may well be C B R and the NH might refer to New Hampshire.

So this is something that looks like a hand hammered copy of an old world drinking vessel probably made in Manchester NH at the end of the 19th century although the numbers form the year 1945, which again is possible. Except there is something after the 9 which leads me to believe this is not a date.

Here is a list of US silversmiths known to this particular researcher. He has broken down the list into last name and initial blocks.

https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~silversmiths/genealogy/makers/silversmiths/index.htm

I did the obvious searches by state, by letter block and by last name beginning with R and came up crickets.

He is asking for new initials so you could send him this and suggest he either add it to his list or find it in the list or at the very least help you find your maker without which all my thoughts above are somewhat speculative.

CRWW

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The crossed out number is five.

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Now you have blown it up, Bart, a couple of things are apparent. First the “cross out” is actually a double bar “stamp out” so confirming done at source. The second is the “C” is different in form and depth of stamp to the “B” and the “R” and the top and bottom terminals of the “C” are so close it may not be a “C” at all.

There is a third thing: the “1” is way higher than the “4” on the other side of “NH”which pretty much ends the idea it might refer to a date which I must confess to never having had much faith in the first place

So going down this alley we are left with American because of the word STERLING and the eagle.

N.H. still looks like New Hampshire so we might be looking for a silver manufacturer with the initials BR in Concord or Manchester and I am going to stick to the late 19th early 20th century.

And, given the lighter stamp of the BR, is it quite likely it was just the retailer. So we are probably looking for a silver manufacturer who used the eagle as a trade mark Except that there really not only isn’t one in New Hampshire but there isnt one in this form at all.

So, one starts to think this might not be made in the US at all.

In support of this theory is the weird mixture of hand hammering on the upper work and the clear machine-made origins of the base. Like some manufacturer of metalware made the rough stamp of the bowl and them instead of finishing it sold it to a local silver worker who hammered the bowl out and added the handles using hand rather than machine soldering

So Mexico? It uses the Eagle as a national mark since 1948 and regularly stamps “STERLING” on its product.

The first letter, “C” or possibly “G”, is the city letter.

The second letter, “B”, is the first letter of the smith’s or company name.

The number “45”, means this silversmith is the 45rd smith whose last name starts with the letter B, in the city of “C” or “G”, Mexico.

“G: might be Guadalajara. “C” might be Cabo San Lucas, Cancún, Chihuahua, Ciudad Juárez, Córdoba, Cuautla, Cuernavaca or Culiacán.

There are literally thousands upon thousands of these marks, most of which are still unidentified.

CRWW
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AI:

The image shows a hallmark on a sterling silver item, which is a type of cup known as a quaich. A quaich is a traditional Scottish drinking cup, often with two handles. The markings on the item in the image are consistent with those used by the Gorham Manufacturing Company, a well-known American silver manufacturer.

The markings can be interpreted as follows:

  • “STERLING”: This indicates the item is made of sterling silver, which is 92.5% pure silver.

  • “CBR”: These letters are likely part of the Gorham hallmark system, which used a series of letters to denote the year of manufacture.

  • The eagle symbol: This is a recognized symbol in Gorham hallmarks.

  • “N.H.”: This could refer to New Hampshire, where Gorham had a manufacturing facility.

  • “195”: This might be a pattern number or other internal code.

Based on the style and markings, the item is likely a sterling silver quaich made by the Gorham Manufacturing Company.

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I doubt it would be Gorham though… :confused: