Thanks to this forum and Bartholomew help I found out the hallmark of the candle sticks I have got are from Budapest (dated 1866).
After cleaning them I noticed both of them have a scratchend number on top of them. They have the same number: 20411.
Just wondering if it is just an inventory thing or something else? Hope someone can help me out
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These are weighted sticks so this scratch mark is not done to indicate gross silver content. So it’s a private mark by a repairer, seller or cleaner. It may show the date as in April 20, 1911 but again it is private and simply to allow him to identify the sticks should they show up again.
1866 was the year Hungary saw its chance to take over power within the weakening Austro-Hungarian Empire following its defeat by Prussia and before Bismarck’s unification program for Germany came into play making Hungary a separate co-equal state with Austria under Franz Joseph. In terms of continental stability it proved fatal. France continued to be the greatest single continental power and the Brits continued their policy of stirring up as much dissent as they thought they could get away with so the continental countries didn’t gang up on them.
A policy which that country seems to have remained loyal to with the explosive Brexit breakup and its current siding with Trump in his increasingly anti-Europe or anyway pro Russia policies.
Britain has never regarded Russia as an enemy. Indeed when the communists took over, George V had invited his cousin the Russian Czar to come hang out in London. An invite which was vetoed by his wife Mary of Teck, who pointed out since she and he were German and they where monarchs in a country at war against Germany and were currently pretending to be “Windsors” this was the sort of invite which might trigger a similar revolution in the UK.
The Russians, even under Putin not only continue to regard the UK as a country where detente can be achieved but a good place to stick most of their gold. Under the Bank of England in a London cellar you could host a soccer match if it wasn’t jammed to the rafters with everybody’s gold bars.
In the recent build of HS2 through London they had to detour the line to get round all the gold there.
CRWW