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by B. Lennart Persson & Svein G. Josefsen
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 The strong emphasis on enamel on silver that gave Norwegian goldsmiths their reputation made Norwegian silver a growing industry, and meant a lot for the export. This is especially true for the jewelry. Today one can find mid-century enameled jewelry from Norway anywhere in the world. Although Norwegian silver should always be marked, it usually takes some knowledge to decode the different hallmarks that appear. This article gives some guidelines on the subject of hallmarks on modern Norwegian silver. The emphasis will be on mid-century enameled jewelry, but as the same hallmarks also appear on other jewelry and silver items, the article may also be useful in a broader sense. |
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| There are no city
stamps or date letters on modern Norwegian silver. Early pieces are sometimes
marked with the year, e.g. 1921, and/or the city such as Oslo, Christiania (the
former name of Oslo until 1906), Bergen or Trondheim. The bigger companies
started using 'Norway' and the content mark 'Sterling' after World War II.
However, since this has been a question of company policy there are no rules for
this. When the word Norway or Norge is not stated, the first
clue to identification of Norwegian silver is the content mark that gives the
quantity of pure silver in the piece. This usually is either 925 S (meaning
925/1000 pure silver which is equivalent to Sterling silver) or 830 S ( a quality
often called 'coin silver' in the US) which means 830/1000 pure silver and is often
used in the Nordic countries.
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Mark used by
David-Andersen 1924-39
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There should also
be a maker's mark that identifies the goldsmith, the company (or the importer
responsible for the marking). This is to guarantee that the content of
silver is not lower than stated. For the collector this makers mark is an
important clue to the identification of the piece. Other marks that appear on
Norwegian silver can be designers marks, initials or symbols referring to the
designer, or the abbreviation 'inv'. and the initials (inventor =
designer). Numbers other than the content marks can be product numbers or in
some cases limited editions. There can also be Norwegian words that refer to the
production, such as handarbeid = handmade, and mønsterbeskyttet
= copyright.
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Makers' marks on mid-century enamel
jewelry |
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| On Norwegian silver the maker's mark often consists of a symbol, but it could also be a printed name, an abbreviation or the initials of the maker. Many companies have more than one hallmark registered, this can sometimes be confusing. If the hallmark consists of letters it can also easily be confused with Danish hallmarks because they have the same system with content mark and makers mark. In these cases, one will need a guide to be able to find out if the hallmark represents a Danish or a Norwegian maker. | |||
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Makers' marks used on Norwegian
silver are to be registered with the authorities. There are more than 1,600 marks
registered. The marks listed here are examples of hallmarks from a few of the
most important makers of Norwegian mid-century enamel jewelry.
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