Original Solid Silver Oyster Box with 6 Oyster Cutlery. Germany. GERMANY. 19TH CENTURY.

Original Case with 6 Oyster Cutlery in German Solid Silver, manufactured in the 19th century. It is a cutlery for six diners made entirely in solid silver. It comes perfectly distributed in a beautiful square case with cushioned interior in striking electric blue satin. It consists of 6 decorative forks with four tines with openwork frontispiece. One of the side tines is thicker and sharper, like a knife, to be able to cut or remove the oyster if necessary. All the forks are decorated with a sinuous cut handle, undoubtedly marked by a beautiful and delicate vegetal decoration chiseled in Victorian style. Formed by scrolls, acanthus leaves and delicate little flowers, it is undoubtedly the sinuous pearling that covers some areas that makes these forks very decorative pieces. In Germany, a stamp of a crown and crescent moon was introduced in 1888 to indicate silver purity of at least 80%. All handles are stamped at the top with the crescent moon, crown and 800, attesting to their value and age. This is very original cutlery, in very good condition and completely genuine. The concept of cutlery as such is relatively recent, specifically from the 18th century. Most spoons are made from the 16th century onwards, and there is no record of the production of matching spoons until the end of the 17th century. Forks appeared later, in France in the middle of the 17th century, and with only two prongs at the beginning. The knife was the third to develop in England after the time of Charles II. It is on the handles of these three pieces that the decoration is carried out with the most varied and elaborate forms. At the end of the 19th century, the desire of the wealthier classes to show their status in pieces as decorative as this cutlery stands out. The oyster fork is a special piece of cutlery, since it is used only to taste this mollusk. It is characterized by being short, small and serrated, usually 3 teeth, thick and strong in appearance. It is used to extract the mollusk from its shell, and needs to make this sometimes complicated work, as simple as possible, hence a special fork has been created for it. Because this fork is used with the right hand, it is placed on the right side of the table, with the sharp blade facing the plate. Original set of forks to enjoy with style a very special delicacy. Measures: 17 cms (forks length) and 22 x 19 cm (case).