Early 20th Century Adam Manns & Sohn Sterling Silver Sugar Tongs, Made in Germany

Description

Ornate & Detailed Sterling Silver Sugar Tongs, Made in Germany by the Silversmith Company, Adam Manns & Sohn from Doernigheim, … more Ornate & Detailed Sterling Silver Sugar Tongs, Made in Germany by the Silversmith Company, Adam Manns & Sohn from Doernigheim, Germany. Hanau silver is highly detailed and, per 925-1000.com, the "pieces were meant to look like old pieces of the renaissance, baroque or rococo period, so they were designed in those styles."

The tongs are hallmarked A.M.D. & 800. Doernigheim was near Hanau, where there is a long & storied history of hallmark usage & silver production . Per the Association of Small Collectors of Antique Silver (ASCAS) "Hanau was an important manufacturing center for highly ornate, decorative, and handmade items, and even the silver lover who prefers a plainer look must admire the workmanship and skill of the Hanau silversmiths."

The tongs are not marked with the crescent moon and German crown, mandated after 1886. But because Doernigheim is near Hanau, it is possible they followed pattern of not hallmarking ~ perhaps a little civil disobedience at play. So I can't date them as pre-1886. less