Asian silver table ware - Country of origin?

I picked these pieces up this past summer at my favorite second-hand shop. None are marked in any way that I can find, but they test as sterling (on small wines / cordials) or slightly lower than sterling (plates and spoons) or bits of both (spoon & chopstick rests) - solid, not plate.
The plates, wines (?), and bowls of the spoons are stamped with a crane and pine tree design - and the handles of the spoons seem to have a daffodil on the ends. The rests with the little built-in vase may not even be original to the others since they have no design other than the scalloped spoon rest ... and they seem more crudely made than the other pieces .

None of the pieces seem to be particularly high-end ... quality-wise - all are rather thin.

Any guesses about where they are from? or age? Tourist pieces?

 

You said that the spoons with the daffodil design also have the crane and pine tree in the bowls? The use of a crane is more popular in Japan than in China, but that may not be relevant since there is a lot of cross-fertilization, so to speak.

There's no direct view of the daffodils themselves but the first thing I thought of when I saw them was the Rogers 1950's-70's silverplate pattern called Daffodil. See this link for a picture of it so you can see the resemblance.

http://www.sterlingflatwarefashions.com/SPPatterns/1847Rogers2.html

That shell bowl/candleholder?/rest combo is very odd. I'm sure there was some specific use, but I can't think of what it might be.

 

Was that a filed (sic) test or a surface test.

 

Wow Bakers ... that Rogers pattern is very similar

mine ...

 

Sure looks like silverplate tarnish on the cups and candles.

 

filed ... deep and in a couple of places ... he wasn't believing that they weren't plated.

(I will NOT be taking my newly found old mug to him ... it's a "keeper")

 

It does happen that solid silver gets plated sometimes

 

Well, yours was probably made to look like theirs. And not a great copy either. Chinese more likely than Japanese, methinks.

 

OK Terry, now you just had me dashing around the house trying to compare the tarnish on my silverplate with the tarnish on my sterling ... they look the same to me. What exactly is the difference that I should be looking for between them?

 

One is like nudity and the other is like porn

 

I find that the tarnish on my silver plate is shiny while my silver goes dull and / or blackish..

 

Hi,
It sounds crazy but they have two different smells. I used to be able to tell but now that I am older I lost the knack.
greg

 

No worries Greg .....I found it for you !!!

 

Hunh - kind of odd pieces, would guess maybe 1950s-60s Korean, if intended for the American market, should have been marked as to fineness, but Korean silver is found unmarked as well as marked in unusual ways. Perhaps a member of the military or a tourist visiting Korea found some works by a student or, ummm, a maker who was still developing their skills.

Little doubt that you've identified the combination chopstick/spoon rest with bud vase correctly, and spoons would be more commonly used than in Japan or China. The chasing on the dishes (shallow bowls - deep plates?), though fairly simplistic, isn't badly done at all, but those Daffodil spoons are pretty awful - maybe cast from some that found their way to the maker's shop?

Eh, all pretty speculative on my part...

~Cheryl

 

Cheryl, thanks for the Korean suggestion ... I just found several chopsticks and spoon set for sale online, and they all (I think all of them) were Korean in origin.

I agree with you about the spoons. They are certainly ... odd.

I sure wish I could find out why they were made and how they got here. I'll continue searching for similar items ... but I think I will still end up with many unknowns. Still not bad for a 50 cent zip-lock bag of metal that no one else seemed to want.

 

Oh sure ... you also suggested that I lick the underside of my fiesta dishes!

Actually, I've heard others say they thought that plated pieces have a different odor than sterling ... I've just never noticed it myself.

 

I have one brass doorknob that always leaves a horrid smell on my hand. No matter how I clean it it leaves a smell. I am looking for the old glass knobs.

As for the smell of sterling vs plated? I never noticed a difference since the plating is also sterling.

 

Silverplate is pure silver NOT .925

THAT is why there is a difference

Stinky brass is one bad smell

 

I meant 925 plating on base metals, like copper,nickel,etc.

Yes brass can be very stinky.

 

The only .925 plating is Sheffield plate - physically applying a thin sheet of sterling to a base metal

Electroplating only works with pure silver