Any idea what these are?????????

[gwaithcoed]

[/img] Came by a shed load of bits and bobs from an ex woodturner (sadly now deceased) and among them are several flat discs,1",
1 1/2", 2", and 2 1/2" diam. All silver and are hall marked as shown, any ideas what they are??? Cheers Alan.

 

[Argee]

Hallmarks reveal Birmingham Assay Office, made in 1991, if that helps.

Ray.

 

[Alf]

Heh heh, I got Birmingham too, but my hallmarks book stops at 1954. I wonder, and this is a just a guess, could he
have been into metal spinning? :-k Probably depends on how thin the discs are, and maybe their not thin enough?
Dunno if you can even spin silver... (I googled - you can) But FWIW as a guess. :roll:

Cheers, Alf

 

[Scott]

You can deffo spin silver! My old man used to do it all the time to make silver mounts for bagpipes. (Sorby do the tools and even a video).

Bit strange that the pieces have been assayed before being turned into anything. If you spun those you'd remove the assay marks

 

[Alf]

Bit strange that the pieces have been assayed before being turned into anything. If you spun those you'd remove the assay marks

Yeah, I wondered about that too. :-k

 

[Chris Knight]

Can you buy "raw" silver without an assay mark? If you wanted to use silver for jewellery or inlaying into a bit of wood and you needed a lump of silver, would it come in round disks with an assay mark possibly?

 

[Anonymous]

I think they are posh gloat blinkers.You put one on each eye when Philly is about

 

[Scott]

Can you buy "raw" silver without an assay mark? If you wanted to use silver for jewellery or inlaying into a bit of wood and you needed a lump of silver, would it come in round disks with an assay mark possibly?

Chris, you would buy the silver unmarked and normally send finished or part finished pieces or sections thereof to the assay office for marking. Engraved pieces would be assayed before engraving so that the mark can be made less obvious amongst the engraving. Not sure but I think you can also point the Assay Office in the direction of where you'd like the mark put.

That disc looks to me to have square(ish) bits on it so I'd guess it was cut from sheet with snips but you can buy discs:

http://www.jblundell.co.uk/sheet.asp


Not sure what size the disc on the photo but the punch marks look a tad heavy-handed to me!

Maybe the old fella did just buy some discs to inlay into something(?)

 

[gwaithcoed]

Hi Scott, never thought about spinning, but as you say any marks would be removed when working the metal. The size of the one in the photo is 2 1/2" diam.and about 1/2" mil thick, and it looks from the back as if its been glued to something, although none of the others show this. I think I'll put them on ebay as belly button embellishers Thanks for your comments Alan.