Unmarked (real) silver cup- possibly very, very old - can you help?

[motherjunker]

Hi! I am new to the forum. I bought this little cup at a thrift store, thinking it was just a steel cup or maybe pottery with a metallic glaze (which is what I'm sure they thought too). It turns out it's very likely solid silver. It is heavy, rings very long and clear when tapped, melts an ice cube in seconds, passes the "makeup power" test, is non-magnetic and tested negative for lead. (Those are pretty much all I could do to test from home.) It weighs 5.1 ounces and appears to be in just a cast form - not polished. It looks almost like galvanized pipe because it's a little rough. I thought it was pewter and was disappointed when it tested negative for lead. It never occurred to me that it could be silver! I was truly perplexed when the magnet didn't stick.



Anyway, at first glance it doesn't appear to have markings, but looking at it closely and if different light it becomes clear that there are in fact very faint markings on the bottom, and possibly on the side and inside. It looks mainly to be hand scratched or hand embossed letters and/or symbols. They are very faint and I have to turn the cup at different angles to even see them. I can see some at one angle and then totally different ones at another. Part of the lip of the cup has scratches that I think might be from teeth.

I'm attaching some photos. It's very hard to photograph this because it's shiny. I made a second file in Photoshop to show some of the symbols I see.

Any info is greatly appreciated. I am at a loss and don't know where to go next. I asked a silver expert and she seems to be at a loss so far.

Thank you!

 

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[FoundInNC]

Pewter

 

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[LuckyThirteen08]

After reading this thread,I am as curious as you are now,lol. You know what they say though "Curiosity killed the Cat" but i believe that "Satisfaction Brought Him Back", Probably where the nine lives comes into play. It could be made from a number of different materials but those markings have me perplexed.Cant wait for the results....

HH John

 

[motherjunker]

Okay. Not silver. I can put this to rest, thank God. On to other things....

 

[motherjunker]

Wouldn't pewter test positive for lead? It tested negative for lead.

 

[motherjunker]

Okay, now I'm reading more about pewter. It seems that lead started being removed in the 1700s. That still gives me some hope,because I'm pretty sure this is not aluminum or Armetale. In fact, when I thought it was pewter before anything. The lead thing confused me. I guess I need to see a pewter expert next.

Thanks everyone!

 

[motherjunker]

Another update...
I decided to tarnish the cup more, by placing mustard in a bag with the cup. The result is amazing. Designs started to show all over it. Now people can see it and I was told to talk to an expert in artifacts. I believe it's pre-Columbian, but not sure. Could be Asian, Norse... I can't find any info on pewter being used by them. Anyway, here are a couple of photos. The designs are faint, so I enhanced them slightly with the burn tool in Photoshop so they're more visible.

 

[motherjunker]

I can post the original non-enhanced photos too. You just have to look really hard because the lines are faint. But they are there.