Vintage - AUSTRIA - BERNDORF ALPACCA - Fork

Vintage - AUSTRIA -  BERNDORF ALPACCA - Fork

The Alpacca alloy was developed in 1823 by the German chemist Dr. Ernst August Geitner (1783-1852). It was very similar in its appearance to silver, but significantly cheaper. Therefore, this new alloy was first called "Argentan". It consisted of 20% nickel, 55% copper and 25% zinc. The new silver-imitating alloy soon became very popular. The Gebrueder Henninger (Henninger Bros.) proposed a similar alloy (5-30% nickel, 45-70% copper and 8-45% zinc with trace amounts of lead, tin and iron) which they called "Neusilber". Later both Argentan and Neusilber were used under the trade name of Alpacca (or Alpakka). The great advantage of the use of Alpacca alloy as the base metal for silver plating is that the appearance of the objects does not change significantly with the wearing away of the silver layer. 

HALLMARK : BERNDORF ALPACCA , inside the oval there is a profile of a walking bear. Berndorf Alpacca mark (No.2) was applied in 1891-1930 

Please Note : General age related wear.