Hi everyone I got 2 salt cellars I bought at an estate sale. I know nothing about them. Just thought they were beautiful. I’m hoping you could give me some history/age and if they are sterling. They also came with a tiny swan salt spoon I can’t really get a clear picture of its markings They are very hard to read. Thank you so much for any help.
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Hi. I can’t make it out. Seems to be not English. I’m going to sit outside again with my looking glass and study it some more.
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It says Germany. lol
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I thought it was German… Can you take a macro photo of this sign?
https://onebid.pl/pl/srebro-i-platery-niemcy-zestaw-2-solniczek-figuralnych-labedzie-srebro/937827
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Where are you located Bart? I’m in the United States.
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Greetings from America Bart. That’s pretty cool I’ve never chatted with anyone from Poland. Bart I can’t understand the link you sent me. Are the swans sterling? And do you know what the marks mean? I appreciate you so much.
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Thank you for your greetings! It’s also very nice to meet you. A set of two salt shakers in the shape of swans is a common motif. German products made of 800 silver predominate. I can’t seem to connect the lion and crown markings with German markings. I hope I’ve correctly deciphered the inscription on the spoon, which clearly indicates a German product. Perhaps I’m wrong; I’m no expert. Let’s wait for the opinions of experts on the subject.
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I’ve seen others like them on line but not with those markings
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I bet the spoon is not original to the salts.
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Probably. I hope the experts will speak out soon. 
It’s like a lot of Wolf & Knell turn of the century marks, it’s ambiguous. Prior to the company merging in 1922 with another Hanau silverware manufacturer, Gebrüder Glaser, to form Vereinigte Silberwarenfabrike, they specialized is making items which looked old but were actually not.
The absence of a compulsory decimal silver mark probably indicates either they are not silver or made before 1888 or simply confirms they were made in the largely unregulated free state City of Hanau. Although what the incentive for failing to mark decimal silver values might be, from a marketing point of view, escapes me.
“Much of German silver will be marked with a millesimal fineness of 800 - 80% pure silver, including Hanau silver. Any items just marked ‘German silver’, ‘nickel silver’ or ‘Alpaca’ have no silver content at all, but are alloys of base metals.”
The associated spoon with the word “Germany” on it and another mark doesn’t really tell us much, other than who ever owned and paired it, liked swans and decided one spoon was enough.
They will have had a glass probably white glass or ceramic holder for the salt. You might find a duplicate that fits on ebay. Or put your friendly local glass blower to work.
They are rather fierce looking swans. Clearly not like the English live ones which are all owned by King Charles and protected from the Second Amendment fanatics.
CRWW
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Talk of the devil. __
__ 
What if the spoon is not original to the set? The swans are marked with a crown and lion. Maybe the old owner added the spoon? The swans aren’t marked Germany.
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https://www.925-1000.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=218600#p218600
https://925-1000.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39157
https://www.reddit.com/r/Hallmarks/comments/11wztbk/hello_is_anyone_up_for_a_challenge_i_would_love/ Wolf & Knell?
Quite so. If you are campaigning for them to be considered at least .800 silver one can only urge getting them tested would be a complete denouement. The marks are somewhat less than conclusive even given origin.
Poor old Hanau. First the French and then the Americans completely destroyed downtown. Part of the Hesse principality, its main contribution, other than providing shelter for many protestant silversmiths fleeing the wrath of the French Catholic king, was providing Britain with a royal family when they decided James II was a bit too much.
When the current Duke of Sussex, who has taken to hanging about in LA suburbs with an American wife, whose forebears where probably owned by his six greats uncle William IV, subsumed the title, I argued strongly he had no right to it as George III had wrongly deprived the previous holder, a member of the Hesse family, when he kept marrying people without the King’s consent.
Mind you I also urged, using the rules of primogeniture and the church records from North Wales, the rightful King of England was living in South Africa, and if that wasn’t true, then the next most dynastically competent was sheep farming somewhere in Queensland.
Yours are very well crafted Swans. We know who made them and where we just don’t know of what. A simple test will make both you and my esteemed colleague Bart either happy or unhappy. And its always better to be either one or the other than not knowing which.
CRWW
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