I have acquired this Austrian Caddy/Casket which bears the maker’s mark initials of TS. Though worn or not struck clearly, l think the hallmark is Vienna pre 1820. The engraving is beautifully done and the overall condition is very good. It appears to be 13 Loth
Can members authenticate a maker and time frame please?
Kindest regards
Jenn
This domed mark was used from 1811 onwards and “A” stands for Vienna. If the rubbed out number in the bottom left is also a two then this may be a box by Theresia Sander who was working in Vienna from that year to 1828.
But as I have never seen her work and don’t have a credited mark for her this remains a guess.
AndI cannot really even read the loth. It may well be 13.
CRWW
So since I am not sure based on the numerics and mark, I went to style and the quasi engineered finish inclines me to the later date. So I think I like 1822 based on box style. During these inquiries I discovered some sellers with similar boxes think its an etrog box and others just for jewellery storage.
You probably know the answer but based on the floral design on the lid, and the importance of the floral stigma or pitam during sukkot, and what I know of Jewish presence in Vienna in the 1820’s I think it was perhaps originally designed for storing the citrus fruit during sukkot and in the modern era adapted for jewellery.
But if it is indeed an etrog box then given there were only about 1,400 Jewish families in the city in 1820 and they had to maintain a residence in Moravia to be allowed to work there, it may have been for export rather than local use.
CRWW
Your response has been very helpful and enlightening- considering the information you have provided has led me to believe you are on the right track.
How joyous it is to handle such historical items such as this box and try to envisage the pride in owning such an item.
I’m grateful for your help and prompt feedback
It’s truly appreciated.
Etrog boxes were originally made in Persia and more recently those parts of the old Ottoman Empire’s land referred to as Palestine which has now been mandated as Israel. The sweet tasting fruit was incorporated in a celebration of life
An etrog is a yellow citron fruit that Jews use during the week-long holiday of Sukkot. It is one of the four species, which are held and waved during specific prayers to honour the harvest and god’s blessings. The etrog is considered the “fruit of a beautiful tree” mentioned in the Torah and is selected with great care for its purity.
Here is picture of a girl holding the four fruits.
I am not very knowledgable about religious holidays but this seven-day working holiday looks like a sort of harvest festival for the Jewish people of the diaspora.
Its an elaborate and expensive box and clearly out of the Austro-Hungarian empire and apparently made after the Congress of Vienna tried and largely failed to come up with a peace plan for Europe following the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo.
Vienna was poised to grow from a fairly unimportant commercial city and a capital to a dynamic community whose commerce, following the work on the Danube to made it safer to navigate, saw the city population triple in the next decade.
CRWW
If “TS” was still silversmithing in Vienna until 1865, as your excellent research seems to show, then that brings him or her within the range of Lehmann’s city directories which were produced sporadically from 1859 onwards.
https://www.digital.wienbibliothek.at/nav/classification/2609
The directories are on line in German. The directories also deal with newspapers and those papers will have silversmiths’ advertising.
The individual names and their street addresses are not divided into professions although professions are attributed. So a boolean search for silver or goldsmith and then a focus on last names of same beginning with S and then looking for a first name beginning with T might very well yield a maker’s name.
It will incidentally provide names of any directory-listed smiths left out of the existing on line material.
Someone with a facility in German is probably best equipped to handle this work.
CRWW
