Posted 13 years ago
interested…
(1 item)
Hello,
I'm an expat living in Germany and over the weekend my wife and I hopped over the border to France to a flea market and found this. I believe it's a French tankard don't know old it is but I'm really curious about the 26 different stamped symbols that are on the rim. Some are letters, some look like cursive letters but not quite and others are oval, round or trapezoidal. Some of the stamps are deep and others I can only read the outline they're so faded. The handle is stamped with "demi litre" which google translate from French to English means pint. The bottom is stamped with N-D. It's awful heavy and I'd love to be able to figure out what it is exactly and what all of those symbols mean. Pretty sure it's got lead in it so I won't be drinking out of it but any assistance you could provide would be appreciated.
Is it possible it is pewter? If it is pewter lead will leach out of it. I think I still have a database link for pewter maker marks. Not sure if it covers Europe. If you can't find it under a search for tankard try the term flagon. Flagon's usually have a lip for pouring while tankards don't commonly have the pouring lip.
I have researched a number of flagon's and the handle design you show seems to be common to them. Many but not all have a hinged lid.