Can anyone help please? I have this model car in Sterling Silver, hallmarked London 1980 in the boot.
What I can’t find in my research is who the maker is - MoL Can anyone help me with the person who made this
The car is a Mercedes S-Class, great detail.
I think the maker’s mark is “M-pellet-L,” rather than MoL. But that gets us only so far - that maker isn’t in the standard lookup charts, a common problem with modern silversmiths. The London Assay Office might be able to shed some light on the maker’s identity.
Ooo thank you, I never thought about asking the London Assay Office. I’ll email them, and if I hear from them I’ll post it here.
I am wondering about a couple of things. There are two .925 marks in the hallmark array on your 1980 sterling silver car.
Why?
"In addition to prescribing the town symbols for imported silver the 1904 Hallmarking) Act also predicated the use of a numerical value for the standard in place of the lion passant for sterling silver and the crown for 18 carat gold. The import mark for sterling silver therefore also includes the value “·925” in an oval punch. The standard date letter for the current year at the assay office is also used although not necessarily in the same punch shape.
“A 1998 amendment to the 1973 Hallmarking Act finally brought an end to use of the individual Assay Office import marks so that the same marks can now be struck both on imports and on UK-manufactured articles.”
So why two marks? Is one an export mark from country of origin where presumably the sponsor will be found?
There doesn’t seem to be any import marks (see list referenced above) which would have been placed by the assay office if they were imported so the London Assay office may not have any record unless the two vaguely triangular things either side of the second .925 mark, which look like Yule trees on the 13th day of Christmas, are supposed to be import marks?
The possible logical answer to the question of who is the importer, exporter or sponsor, is “M” stands for Mercedes as this appears to be a model of a car made by them and L stands for Ltd. A quick look at the British Companies Office registry show such a company existed and, since it is using the Mercedes name which is trademarked up the ying yang, presumably is doing so with permission of the principal company.
I did find a lot of sterling silver model Mercedes cars were cast in Italy, in Arezzo to be precise, in the 1980’s but I didn’t find any indication on any other solid silver model cars, labelled as having been made there, who exactly was doing the casting. Which, in my rather simple, linear mind, means it might indeed have been someone under contract to the German big car maker or just Italians being rather cavalier with rules.
So who got these miniature cars and why?
" I’m sorry sir, we have submitted your application for a big boy car but you don’t qualify at this time. But here’s a miniature to remind you of your visit with us in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg which, if you ever shrink to 1/64 of your present size, will work out perfectly for you given you can find an engine for it."
CRWW
Isn’t that the mark as prescribed by the new-ish International Convention of Hallmarks?
That’s exactly what it is. Couldn’t read it and still trying to catch up on 19th century changes!
Thanks. So why two .925 marks if that one was to control trans border trade in precious metal what was the other .925 mark for?
CRWW
Please provide a clear photo of the model’s chassis.
For luck? Belt and suspenders? Spark gap? The charge for dealer prep? Trunk capacity? 
Looks to me that the 925 mark with scales has been erased, albeit not particularly well and then re-stamped with the subsequent 925 mark.
This could be the first ever “classy chassis” photo request for a car called “Mercedes”.
Note the two threaded screw rods discernible down there. This model used to have, or has, a mahogany stand with all the missing data on it.
Also if the gilded part of the “boot” which I think is English for trunk is where the exhibited number is displayed is detachable then the hallmark array, or part of it, should be on the main body as well for whatever good that does.
Never thought about it before but the American “trunk” for rear luggage compartment makes no sense. The trunk of say an elephant is on the front end where the bonnet covering the engine usually is.
Had to look it up. Apparently both terms refer to things that used to be stored in the back. Boots in the back of stage coaches and steamer trunks on the back of automobiles. Why anybody in a stagecoach would want to take off their boots and stick them in the back is unclear. John Wayne never did. Maybe the lone ranger followed this peculiar habit which may explain the lone bit,
CRWW
If you are right, and that seems likely, then why eliminate the export mark and replace it with a local mark required for imported foreign goods and why wasn’t the London Assay office import mark affixed at the same time?
And does all this help with where the item originated and where it ended up?
CRWW
I’ve been collecting and repairing models (also known as spring models or iron models from brands like SIKU, Majorette, Matchbox, Tomica, Hot Wheels, and Corgi) since I was a child. I’ve restored over 450 models from scratch. That’s why I’m digging deeper and asking for details.
Before:
Very commendable. I too spent a little time in my youth attempting to improve the lot of models.
Never thought to paint them, though.
CRWW
I do remember trying to recast them but somehow they all reverted to form.
CRWW
I’ve just had a closer look at that particular stamp, and it shows no signs of erasure.
Probably just as well. It didn’t work out too well for the lovely one in Goldfinger.
