ITALIAN SILVER MARKS AND HALLMARKS
PAPAL STATES (ROME) IN THE 19TH CENTURY
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THE DIRECTORY OF 20th CENTURY ITALIAN SILVERSMITHS (SORTED BY PROVINCE)
AL AR BL BO BS FE FI FO GE MI MO NA PA PD PR PV RE RO ROMA TO TS TV UD VA VC VE VI VR


The first statutes of the guild of Roman goldsmiths date back to 1358, in which was stated the rule of the warranty punch.
The University of Goldsmiths was founded in 1508 and the statutes approved the following year introduced the use of the master's mark in addition to the previous guarantee mark.
In 1738, with the reform of the Statutes of Goldsmiths, the guild acquired the name of "Nobil Collegio degli Orefici ed Argentieri di Roma" (Noble College of Goldsmiths and silversmiths of Rome).
The warranty mark used prior to the French invasion was a series of "crossed keys of St. Peter under a liturgical umbrella" enclosed into shields, ovals or other geometric shapes.
Statute of the Nobil Collegio degli Orefici ed Argentieri di Roma warranty mark of the papal State warranty mark of the papal State warranty mark of the papal State warranty mark of the papal State warranty mark of the papal State

THE ROMAN STATE UNDER THE FRENCH DOMINATION (1809-1815)

Napoleon Bonaparte, by decree dated May 17, 1809, attached to the French Empire the territories belonging to the Papal State.
Rome was declared "Imperial and Free City" including the town of Rome, its surroundings and the Departments of Viterbo, Velletri, Frosinone, Tivoli, Rieti, Spoleto, Perugia, Assisi and Todi ("Prima Ricupera", see below).
With imperial decree dated April 13, 1810 was introduced in the Roman territories the French model of hallmarking the precious metal.
The measuring system of silver in use in Rome, based on the ounces, was replaced by the decimal system and the title of the silver fineness was given in thousands.
Were established two Assay Offices: Rome for the Department of the Tiber (identified with the letter "H") and Spoleto for the Department of Trasimeno (letter "I").
950/1000 silver fineness 800/1000 silver fineness
950/1000 silver fineness
800/1000 silver fineness
warranty mark: Rome large works warranty mark: Rome medium works warranty mark: small works
warranty mark
Rome, large works
warranty mark
Rome medium works
warranty mark
small works
warranty mark: Spoleto large works warranty mark: Spoleto medium works
warranty mark
Spoleto large works
warranty mark
Spoleto medium works
reconnaissance: large works reconnaissance: medium works reconnaissance: small works foreign silver: large works foreign silver: small works
reconnaissance
large works
reconnaissance
medium works
reconnaissance
small works
foreign silver
large works
foreign silver
small works


THE RESTORATION OF THE PAPAL STATES (1815-1870)

After the fall of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna restored the Pope in his territories and, on 24 May 1814, Pope Pius VII returned to Rome.
Provisional marks were adopted for silver items under working process at the time of the Papal Restoration.
provisional mark after Pope Restoration (warranty) provisional mark after Pope Restoration (reconnaissance)
provisional mark
(warranty)
provisional mark
(reconnaissance)

ROME

On January 7, 1815 was published the "Bando Generale sulla garanzia delle manifatture d'oro ed argento" (General rules about the warranty of silver and gold artefacts).
Rome and Departments were restored to the previous system based on ounces and new hallmarks were established to replace those adopted during the French Administration.
The new rules admitted three levels of silver fineness: 11,09 ounces ((947/1000), 10.16 ounces (889/1000) and 9.14 ounces (800/1000, only for old works)
Was also introduced a maker's mark of diamond (lozenge) shape containing the initials of the silversmith and a number attributed by the Rome Assay Office.
1st title: 947/1000 2nd title: 889/1000 medium works 2nd title: 889/1000 small works 3rd title: 800/1000 old works
1st title: 947/1000
2nd title: 889/1000
medium works
2nd title: 889/1000
small works
3rd title: 800/1000
old works
Maker's mark Filippo Pacetti c. 1830
Maker's mark Filippo Pacetti c. 1830

SURROUNDING PROVINCES ("PRIMA RICUPERA")

The Provinces of the "Prima Ricupera" adopted similar warranty marks, adding the silversmith's initials (left and right side), the code of the town of his workshop (top) and that of the Assay Office (bottom).
The town codes of the Assay Offices were: Frosinone uppercase letter "C", Perugia lowercase letter "p", Spoleto uppercase letter "S", Urbino uppercase letter "U", Viterbo uppercase letter "V".

REMAINING PROVINCES ("SECONDA RICUPERA")

The edict published on July 25, 1817 organised the Assay Offices of the territories annexed by Napoleon to the Kingdom of Italy.

The offices in the territories of Bologna, Ferrara, Forlì, Ravenna, Marche and Camerino (called "Seconda Recupera") adopted similar marks with the following town codes:
Bologna uppercase letter "B", Ferrara uppercase letter "F (reversed)", Foligno uppercase letter "F", Forlì lowercase letter "f", Ravenna uppercase letter "R" Macerata (for Marche and Camerino) uppercase letter "M", Jesi uppercase letter "I".

With the same edict were attributed the town codes to other Assay Offices:
Frosinone uppercase letter "C", Perugia uppercase letter "P", Spoleto uppercase letter "S", Urbino uppercase letter "U" and Viterbo uppercase letter "V".
warranty: large works Ravenna warranty: Macerata warranty: medium works Bologna reconnaissance: Forlì old works: Ferrara
warranty: large
works Ravenna
warranty: Macerata
warranty: medium
works Bologna
reconnaissance:
Forli
old works: Ferrara


In 1860 the territories of the "Seconda Ricupera" were annexed to the unified Kingdom of Italy. The Decree of August 22, 1863 extended to these territories the Italian hallmarking system with the addition of the initial of capital town of the province.
Kingdom of Italy 950/1000 silver hallmark Kingdom of Italy 800/1000 silver hallmark Kingdom of Italy 950/1000 small works silver mark Kingdom of Italy 800/1000 small works silver mark
silver fineness
950/1000 large works
silver fineness
800/1000 large works
silver fineness 950/1000
small works
silver fineness 800/1000
small works
Kingdom of Italy 950/1000 silver hallmark
Initials of the capital town of the provinces
In 1870, following the invasion of Rome by the Italian troops, the Papal State ceased to exist.
After the conquest of Rome Italy attained its unity and a unique system of hallmarking was introduced in the Regno d'Italia (Kingdom of Italy).
The law 2 May 1872 deregulated silver production and introduced only a not compulsory inspection of silver artifacts.
hallmark Italy 950/1000 from 1872 hallmark Italy 900/100 from 1872 hallmark Italy 800/100 from 1872
silver fineness
950/1000
optional hallmark
silver fineness
900/1000
optional hallmark
silver fineness
800/1000
optional hallmark
(courtesy Claudio Morelli / ASCAS)

Papal States coat of arms

PAPAL STATES IN THE 19TH CENTURY: BRIEF HISTORICAL CRONOLOGY

In 1799 the Papal States as a whole were invaded by French forces, who declared a Roman Republic. Pope Pius VI died in exile in Valence (France) in 1799. The Papal States were restored in June 1800 and Pope Pius VII returned, but the French again invaded in 1808, and this time the remainder of the States of the Church was annexed to France, forming the départements of Tibre and Trasimène.
With the fall of the Napoleonic system in 1814, the Papal States were restored once more.
In 1860, with much of the region already in rebellion against Papal rule, Sardinia-Piedmont conquered the eastern two-thirds of the Papal States. Bologna, Ferrara, Umbria, the Marches, Benevento and Pontecorvo were all formally annexed by November of the same year, and a unified Kingdom of Italy was declared.
The Papal States were reduced to Latium, the immediate neighborhood of Rome.
On September 10, 1870, Italy declared war on the Papal States and the Italian Army crossed the frontier of the then remaining papal territory on September 11 advancing towards Rome. The city was captured on September 20, 1870. Rome and Latium were annexed to the Kingdom of Italy as a result of a plebiscite the following October and the Papal State ceased to exist.
(based on information by Wikipedia.org)


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