A few weeks ago I bought this Roman Missal as a 19th version, but I saw already it must be older. I have several missals printed in Antwerpen (Belgium) in my collection from the 16th to the 18th century, but this is the only one with silver fittings. It is special because of the elaborate book cover. As many missals of this area it is a combination of an older part with several additions with pieces of the mass that are specific to this part of the world. The heart of the book is a Missale Romanum, printed by the widow of Balthasar (III) Moretus of the famous Plantin-house in Antwerpen (1701). Addition for the city of Liege in Belgium (1768) The latest addition is a part that was printed in Rome in 1919, so I guess the book was bound around 1920. I inspected the fittings on the cover well, but I could not find any hallmarks. To me it looks like silver, but older than 1920. It seems to me the silver is from the 18th century, so the silver fittings must have been recycled from the original 18th century book. Am I right about that? What do you think? Nice central ornaments of Jesus and Mary. It is hard to make a good picture of a shiny object!
From 1869-1942 there was no control over Belgian precious metal marking. Nearly all assay offices were forced to close their doors due to lack of clientele. Only the Brussels office survived, for the occasional silversmith who wanted a governmentally guaranteed mark. Some makers marked the fineness themselves (not guaranteed), others simply didn't. So it is likely that the silver mounts were made during the 1869-1942 time frame. To me the lovely silver engraving has an Art Nouveau-early Art Deco influence, so around that time would be my guess.
Thank you for your thoughts! So in your opinion, it is common to have unmarked silver in that period and the style has Art Nouveau/Early Art Deco influences. Someone on Twitter advised me this book (Silver Key's of Heaven, two centuries of Belgian book bindings), so I have ordered it:
Wonderful! Will you let us know if you find something similar in it? The Sterckshof Silver Museum no longer exists, btw. Their collection has gone to the new Antwerp diamond and jewellery museum DIVA. That could be a place to ask too: https://www.divaantwerp.be/nl/about/contact
I have got the book today and unfortunately it is about the smaller, personal bindings and not about the large liturgic binding as mine is. The floral design though does not change much over the centuries from the baroque period. There are no really similar bindings in this exhibition catalogue.
