Yet another auction-win, this beautiful silver bowl is the latest addition to my modest vintage and antique silverware collection. It’s about four inches high, and eight inches in diameter, with beautiful curving decorations on both the foot and body, a wide lip and a solid base.
It’s marked on the base with an ‘800’ (for 80% silver by purity), and with a crescent moon and crown (hallmark denoting silver manufactured in Germany), and a logo for the company of M.H. Wilkens & Sohne (“M.H. Wilkens & Son”). Established in 1810, the company is still in production today. The serial-number on the base of my piece (238007) corresponds to a manufacturing date of 1915!
The detail on the side. Getting into the crevices to rub out the tarnish was a long and frustrating process which still isn’t fully complete…
Polishing this piece has proved tricky. The wavy lines and decorations, while very attractive, are a real nuisance to clean! Getting into the crevices to rub out the tarnish has been almost impossible. I’ve needed a lot of patience just to get the dish to an even halfway decent appearance. That said, it’s not a bad job so far.
The Manufacturer: Wilkens & Sohne
In business since 1810, M.H. Wilkens & Sohne (today just ‘Wilkens’), is one of Germany’s longest-operating silverware manufacturers, making everything from bowls to cups, porringers, cutlery, bowls and tableware. Their website lists a wide range of merchandise in both silver, and silver-plate.
The Wilkens marks. The spindle-press (left) for Wilkens. The 800 for 80% silver, and the crescent and crown, for German silver.
Researching the manufacturer of the bowl was a tricky process. I already knew a bit just by looking at the marks, but not much. I knew that it was 80% silver, and I knew that the bowl was made in Germany, and after 1886 (the crescent and crown didn’t show up until then), but nothing else. Researching German makers’ marks revealed that the odd shape – the press – was the hallmark of Wilkens & Sohne, which led to me finding their German wikipedia page, which told me about their production-dates and serial numbers, as well as the link to their official website.
The production number, 238007, helped me to date the piece to 1915!
Purpose of the Bowl?
Honestly, I don’t know! I suspect it may be purely decorative, or it may have been used as a fruit bowl or serving bowl of some kind. It’s not really big enough to be a soup tureen or punch-bowl, but it’s not small enough to be something used for individual service. There doesn’t seem to be any indication that it ever had a lid, or an underplate or tray, either.
The inside of the bowl.
Measuring eight inches across, and four inches high, it’s not exactly small, but on the other hand, not really that huge. That said, it weighs the better part of a half-kilo of silver, so it’s not really light, either! It’s probably the heaviest piece of silver I’ve bought so far and apart from one or two pinhead dents, it’s in spectacular condition.
Fixing the Bowl
The underside of the bowl, showing the decorated foot. The hallmarks denoting manufacture, date and purity, were struck to the inside edge.
There were one or two minor issues with the bowl when I bought it. First were the pinhead dents, neither of which is noticeable, so I left them alone. The more immediate problem was that the bowl wobbled. After feeling around with my fingers I discovered that this was because of a dent in the base. A handful of well-placed strikes with a padded, ballpeen hammer rounded the dent out and flattened the base, removing the wobble and restoring the shape! Not all such dent-removal is so easy, but sometimes, you can get lucky in popping, hammering and pressing out dents with a careful application of force.