Good day, friends!
These two pics show an attractive and interesting little sugar scoop that I would quite like to add to my collection, but I have come across statements on line that has rung some warning bells for me. Please allow me to run the matter by you.
The hallmarks (if they can be called such) seem to point to Italian silversmith Zaramella Argenti, founded in Padua in 1948. I have found statements calling some 800-marked Italian silverware an anomaly to stay away from. It seems some unscrupulous manufacturers made some stuff that is marked the same as real 800 silver, but is merely plated.
What really heightened my suspicions is the comparison I was able to make with a set of teaspoons with marks as in the third pic below (the spoons of which I have in hand). You’ll see the size and pattern is exactly the same as the scoop, indicating the possibility that it is the same manufacturer. One is supposed to believe the 800 says: “solid silver of .800 purity”. The punch to the left of the 800 is extremely indistinct, and I cannot even hazard a guess as to what it means.
Your advice, friends, if you please?
Regards
Jan
That indistinct punch is (or should be) the silversmith’s mark with star, number and province. Indeed when magnified I am pretty sure I can make out the remains of a star in the right position. However I am not sufficiently familiar with Italian silver to say whether fake or not.
While waiting for some other kind collector with knowledge of this topic to help out, I browsed around and even went to GoogleEarth to see the premises of the brothers Bruno and Cesare Zaramella. All right, they changed the name of the firm as time went by, but at least the last address I got was the via Carducci #6, Vigodarzere, a commune-like region or municipality in Padova/Padua. I “went” to the spot and saw the premises were sadly derelict. Printed against the one wall was still to be seen “Zaramella Argenti SRL”. So between 1991 and 2005 they operated from here, then vacated.
Considering everything I have read and wondered about, I now believe the sugar scoop with its mark “star 30 PD Z 800” is the real thing. I believe it to have been made soon after 1968.
(I’m still in doubt about those teaspoons though. But additional inputs by you guys will be welcome.)
Regards
Jan
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