Expert: Martin G Roberts - 1/21/2009

Question
Just purchased a 22cm pewter plate with stanped mark 1.25 cm" in diameter, with "Libra" figure holding scales to her right, and letters I and E on either side of base on which she stands.  The partially obscured letters (?) IEV are at right border of  this circular stamp. Three of these stamps form a triangle, approximately 1 cm apart from each other. Can you identify manufacturer and time period of origin?  Thank you.

Answer
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Hello Patricia,

The mark on your plate features the figure of justice, which is a common device in the touchmarks of makers from parts of Germany and other nearby parts of north-west Europe. The placement of the marks in a triangle is typical of the region. Such pieces might date anywhere in the 18th or first half of the 19th Century, though there are also fake versions of this style of mark which are found on reproduction plates. There are many hundreds of such marks, and Continental pewter is not exactly my field. Most German marks are recorded in Hintze: Die Deutschen Zinngeisser, published in seven volumes in German in the 1920s. If you can find a copy in a library, you might be lucky and find the mark.

Hope that helps.

Martin
www.antique-metalware.co.uk