Good day, friends!
I have a very nice Lithuanian teaspoon of which I will show you three pics. There’s a mystery for me to solve, but I am struggling. I will explain…
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Kaunas/ Kovno, Каунас/ Ко́вно. FK - maker’s mark?
Kaunas is the second-largest city a city in Lithuania, after Vilnius. The silver is 80% pure. But I cannot for the life of me discover what the FK (assumedly the maker’s mark) could mean. The third pic I have added just to show you the neat monogram.
Looking at the hallmarks, the FK mark in that biggish central square shield takes up quite a dominant position. I had though it would be easy to look it up, But no. The Lithuanian hallmarking system is organised on a compulsory base, so there should be info on the makers. Please could somebody help me out? I would be very happy to have somebody shed some light on the mystery.
Regards
Jan
“Medieval Lithuania was a powerful independent state before to be absorbed from Poland and, from 1796, from Russia.
Independence from Russian was obtained from 1922 to 1940 and again after 1991.
Russian hallmarks were used from early 19th century until 1918 and from 1946 to 1990.”
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And that’s as far as I got, myself. I counted my chickens before they hatched. I’m still stuck there. 
Jan
Maker’s mark - Master P GURVIČ, Kaunas.
Thank you, Bartholomew, you have helped! Your clue led to a sale of two spoons, one shown to have the FK mark. These two spoons were sold during the Winter ‘Wunderkammer’ live auction, 20-30 July 2023, and presented by Russell Kaplan Auctioneers. The one is said to be marked “Master P GURVIČ Kaunas”, yet the picture shows the maker’s mark as FK, exactly as my hallmark picture above shows. I must believe the identification by Russel Kaplan’s, but how the FK relates to the name P GURVIČ is not mentioned. You must agree that will be a necessary confirmation of the spoons maker.
Still puzzled
Jan
This was my first lead, but I didn’t post the link.
But look at this, Johan:
https://one.bid/en/silverware-lithuania-spoon-20th-century-kaunas-master-p-gurvic-kaunas-p-gurvic-kauns-800-silver-weight-approx-78-65-g/1366262
Thank you, Bart. I have given your kind suggestion a lot of thought.
The hallmarks on the link that you supplied, does not match the hallmarks on the one advertised together with its near-twin (see the Wunderkammer auction). That one has the exact same hallmarks as mine has. The other one has two separate marks: RB and some other mark.
The 800 (star) mark merely indicates the silver as being 80% pure. It does not identify P Gurvic.
I have only the FK mark to lead me to the maker. For the auctioneer to describe the pair as “Two Lithuanian silver table spoons, one marked Kaunas Master P GURVIČ Kaunas and the other RB” defies logic thought. The auctioneer might have had knowledge to say the FK mark is used by P Gurvic, but that fact does not come out.
Thank you once again for helping me think this one through! Any more ideas?
Regards
Jan
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