British silver army belt and pouch

[Ken Maddock]

Hi shakethetrees
Which component part is the vent picker
The arrow like objects?
Thanks
Ken
.

[Andreas]

It seems to be the shoulder belt and pouch of an officer of the Norfolk Yeomanry (The King's Own Royal Regiment). Their 1/1st Battalion fought at Gallipoli in 1915, which is probably how the belt found its way to Istanbul. This is consistent with the presence of George V’s cypher. The pouch is older, as the lid bears, as noted by Ken, the royal cypher of Queen Victoria. Maybe a family heirloom, the Norfolk Yeomanry was disbanded during her reign in 1849 and was raised again in 1901 by King Edward VII.
Ken, yes the vent picks (known as “prickers”) are the dart shaped objects.
Regards,
Andreas

[Fernando K]

hello

Two issues. Indeed, for the first hallmark city is London, and then the lowercase letter corresponds to 1825.
The figure is not crowned GR but VR; confusion comes from considering the bottom of the V as a fifth Romano

Ask the punches (pickers) do not correspond to an officer of artillery?

Fernando K

[thinreadline]

The crossbelt has a Kings Crown cypher and refers to George V as has been observed above , and the pouch itself is has a Queen Victoria cypher . The hallmarks cannot therefore be as early as has been stated . The original purpose of the arrow shaped prickers was to jam into the vents of enemy guns in order to 'spike' them ie render them useless for the duration of the battle. They were originally carried by officers of Light Cavalry regiments for this purpose and the later silver versions were a symbolic reference to this once vital function.

[thinreadline]

Originally Posted by thinreadline

The crossbelt has a Kings Crown cypher and refers to George V as has been observed above , and the pouch itself is has a Queen Victoria cypher . The hallmarks cannot therefore be as early as has been stated . The original purpose of the arrow shaped prickers was to jam into the vents of enemy guns in order to 'spike' them ie render them useless for the duration of the battle. They were originally carried by officers of Light Cavalry regiments for this purpose and the later silver versions were a symbolic reference to this once vital function.

The leopard face hallmark indicates London and the k is for 1905 .

[Ken Maddock]

Just a taught
Is having a hallmark on the front of a silver item not a bit unusual
Regards
Ken

[Shakethetrees]

Originally Posted by Ken Maddock

Just a taught
Is having a hallmark on the front of a silver item not a bit unusual
Regards
Ken

Not at all. The idea of hiding or obscuring these marks is counter to their purpose, which is to show that it is indeed made of sterling silver by a certain maker and was tested by an independent authority in a particular town in a particular year.

When a silversmith or jeweler submits a piece (required by law) for hall marking, if it somehow fails to meet stringent testing (I will have to find the exact standards, if anyone is interested), the piece will be returned to whoever submitted it, smashed beyond recovery.

This system was imposed way back in the 1100's or thereabout to maintain the quality of England's coinage, as coins were melted and fashioned into finished goods which were eventually melted and turned back into coins. Silver solder is a little bit less pure than sterling, so the incorporation of it, bit by bit, into coinage adulterated the end product.

The marking system was seen as a consumer protection issue, the marks, in a sense, creating a "paper trail" tracking each work back to its maker. If a maker somehow obtains spurious marking stamps and turns out substandard goods, he will be prosecuted for fraud. This is something they take seriously, to this day.

So, if the buyer can't clearly see the marks, his confidence in the quality of the work is gone.