Featured An Enjoyable Hunt Today

Greetings everyone!

Today I hit a bunch of local stores, and I had some great finds. Funny how it works out some days. I was just lucky to go to the right places I guess. The first find in the picture was the three forks, a few stores later I found the weighted candle holders, and then I found this super cool...ummm snuff box/coin holder? The coin holder is marked ONNIK 900, everything else is marked sterling. Total price for everything was $11. Does anyone recognize the maker of the two forks? I know one is Alvin Sterling, but I wasn't sure about the other two.

 

The fork was made by R Wallace and Sons.

 

The pattern on the fork looks like it should be Hamilton, 1911, except that the pictures I have found show a slightly different shape for the "shield" where you could have a monogrammed initial. Not as pointy as yours looks. They used the same handle shape for a couple other patterns in that same time period, but they don't have the striped effect.

 

BTW, I know you've mentioned on some earlier occasions that you always scrap weighted pieces. I hope you won't do that with the Gorham piece unless it is fatally damaged.

I know I've seen references to the ONNIK mark before, but can't think what it means.

 

Could be Persian (pre-Iran) but this little thing looks newer than that.

 

Thank you Bakersgma!

 

Thanks for the recommendation, is there something that makes it more desirable compared to other weighted candle holders? By the way, the Gotham candle holder is the darker one.

 

Well, it's miles better in quality than the Empire thing next to it. And I would think that if push came to shove you'd get more out of selling it than scrapping it.

 

You done good Mr Nate, that is quite the haul

 

Very nice finds, and for a wonderful price.

Wasn't it a Turkish brand? You see those roses a lot in Turkey, which doesn't mean they weren't made elsewhere as well.
900 silver is used in both Iran and Turkey (and other countries).

Onnik is an Armenian name. Historic Armenia was split up between several countries, including Persia, Turkey, and Russia. The Russian part is now independent.
Armenian silversmiths were famous throughout the Ottoman empire. They were the great innovators in silversmithing and very skilful. That, along with the Armenian diaspora, meant they were to be found all over the Middle East. There are still many Armenian silversmiths in the region.

 

That explains a lot, when I was looking up Onnik+silver I would see a few links for silver but many more links with the first name Onnik. It’s my favorite piece of the bunch, because it was the hardest to spot. When I saw it in the store, it had packing tape wrapped around it to keep the lid on. So essentially nothing on the outside to prove it was silver. But my method of touch helps here. When I gently bend or squeeze items I can spot plated copper and brass super easy because of the flexibility of the metal and greater weight of the items. But when I squeezed the edges of this one, I felt a clear flexibility in the metal that only typically exists with real silver.

So that led me to take off the tape and find one of those sneaky inside marks which it had.

It’s in great condition overall which makes it harder I think to pin down a date. Whether it’s 5 years old or 50 years old, this sat up out of reach as a keepsake for someone, or a very careful first owner.

 

Thank you cxgirl I hope you are doing well!

 

@MrNate , nice finds! And I enjoyed reading about how you use the sense of touch to identify metals.