Posted 5 years ago
Parrotbeak
(39 items)
Since purchasing it, I've learned that this is a medicine spoon. The maker is Auerhahn, a Germany company that prior to 1951 was called Karl Kaltenbach (& Sohne) and was founded in 1870. Because the spoon is marked "Auerhahn", it's post-1950. I cannot find in what years the logo with the star atop the "u" was in use, but at least it was during the 60s. It's funny to me to think that this medicine spoon isn't even that old, yet I had to look up what it was. Absolutely no clue when I bought it.
Now, for all the things I don't know and would like help with:
* What does the "1,5" stand for? I've only seen it on other pieces with the star logo, which includes forks so it can't be how much it can hold.
* What is that mark in the middle? And relatedly, is the spoon silver or silver-plated? The other pieces I've seen with "1,5" had a nice "100" in front to indicate silver-plate, but I can't figure out what this is. It kinda looks like "(A)", but with a smaller "A" and something beneath it. Or do I have to look at it differently and view it as an "8" or "9"?
According to the the Encyclopedia of World Silver marks Auerhahn started in business in 1951 and today is a division of WMF. Every piece of theirs I found used standard silver marks if it is actually silver ( .925 etc ) The mark 1,5 I believe is a dose measurement or dose ratio for this item. I doubt the item is silver or silver plated or this new it would be so marked.
keramikos I am familiar with that type dose calculator and a couple others. I kept my wife home until she died and had to calculate her doses. The morphine was easy other stuff not so easy. With this instrument we need to keep in mind we are to use it by European standards in effect well over 60 years ago. Although I believe Auerhahn wasn't bought out until late 60's so possibly a decade more recent.
Thanks, fhrjr and kermaikos, for your knowledge and research - it was informative to read.
My condolences in regards to your wife, fhrjr2.
As for the spoon's material, what I can gather is that Auerhahn worked with silver, silver plate, and stainless steel. This does not look like stainless steel, and I agree that silver is less likely not to be (explicitly) marked than silver plate. My resulting conclusion therefore is that it's silver plate. For what it's worth, the spoon weighs 37 grams.
Keramikos, I would be interested in some links to "100 - 1,5" being used on electronics. Reading up on German silver plate (https://www.925-1000.com/a_platenumbers.html), I think the 1,5 might mean the amount of silver in grams used to coat the spoon. But that doesn't quite make sense in all instances I've seen of "100 - 1,5", so I'm still digging.
I believe I just found the answer to the 1,5 mark with a comma as opposed to a decimal point. I will share here what I found.
1,5 being a secondary mark indicated 1,5 g thickness of silver layer deposited on 1 dm2 of base metal.
Apparently indicates the grade of silver plating over the base metal. I have no idea what 1 dm2 stands for but assume either a surface or weight.
OK, 1 dm2 = 1 square decimeter which is rarely used now days. It was also written sq dm.