01Decisive
Find the crescent and crown
The pairing is a national mark used from 1888. Its presence beside a fineness figure confirms German origin and a post-1888 date, and it is a strong indication of genuine assayed silver.
800 / 835 · Lovenhall Ring
The German 800 with Crescent & Crown Mark
The crescent moon and crown beside the number dates a piece to 1888 or later and confirms German assay.
Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Scandinavia and central Europe4 references
From 1888 German silver was required to carry a crescent moon and an imperial crown alongside the fineness number, and that pairing is one of the most useful marks in European silver: it fixes the country, gives a firm earliest date, and confirms that the fineness figure was subject to a national standard.
Most German silver of the period is 800, with 835 and 900 also common and 925 appearing on later and export work. The makers are worth learning, because the difference between anonymous 800 flatware and a signed WMF or Koch & Bergfeld service is large.
Pieces made before 1888 carry city and maker's marks instead, in a system closer to the British model, and those are dated by reference tables rather than by a single national mark.
References and sizes
800 with Halbmond und Krone · 835 · 900 · 925 (later German work)
Establish which of these you are holding before judging it. A genuine piece read against another reference's rules will look wrong when it is not.
Model-specific checks
What decides a German 800 with Crescent & Crown
These apply to this model and not to the rest of 800 / 835. Work them alongside the maker's general checks, not instead of them.
02Strong
Look for a maker's mark and learn the names
WMF, Koch & Bergfeld, Wilkens, Bruckmann and Wellner all command premiums over anonymous work of the same fineness. The maker frequently matters more to the value than the silver content does.
The market
What a German 800 with Crescent & Crown does on the secondary market
Real silver value plus, for good makers, a substantial premium. WMF, Koch & Bergfeld and Wilkens are collected.
An orientation for honest, unrestored condition — never an appraisal, and never a quotation.
Questions we are asked
- What does the crescent moon and crown mean on silver?
- It is the German national silver mark, required from 1888, and it appears alongside a fineness number such as 800 or 835. Together they confirm German origin, a date of 1888 or later, and that the fineness was subject to a national standard.
All the 800 / 835 checks
Free tools of the room
Lovenhall RingRead the whole piece
The mark tells you what the metal claims to be. The instrument reads the setting and the stones together and gives a range to orient you — before anyone charges you for an appraisal.
Free on iPhone & iPad. An estimate, never an appraisal.
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