Hi,
I am looking for a German Silversmith company that makes Chalices. The
Company Name, etched in silver on my piece
appears to be LURFNRANUM. The U has two little dots on top. My E Mail
address is jnperez@attglobal.net.
Thanks

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Request for Question Clarification by scriptor-ga on 28 Apr 2004 07:24 PDT

Dear churchwoman,

I am German, and I can say for sure that "LÜRFNRANUM" would make no
sense as a word or as a company name. Thus, some additional
information may prove helpful:

- Is the word written in script or in block letters?
- If it is in script, are you sure it's one single word? Maybe there
is a small gap between two letters somewhere, so it's actually two
words?
- If it is in block letters, is it written in capital characters only?
- Are the umlaut-dots on the first or the secound U?
- Is the chalice antique or rather new?

If you could put online a photo of the word, it would be most helpful. 

Regards,
Scriptor

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Clarification of Question by churchwoman-ga on 28 Apr 2004 10:26 PDT

Hi,
Thanks for helping. The item with pictures is posted on the web sight.
You can see a clear picture of the word in one of the 6 photos.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3289765357&rd=1
Thanks!

Dear churchwoman,

It was not easy at all, but I finally managed to find the German maker
of the chalice.

I would like to briefly explain what the problem about the strange
word was. I analyzed the picture with various graphic programs and got
the impression that somebody had tried to manipulate the inscription,
since the last part of the word looked as if it had been stamped over
the original letters. But then I enlarged the image by the factor 20
and I found out that the manufacturer's mark had not been manipulated
at all. Actually, a small accident must have happened when the
silversmith stamped this item with his mark. I would say that the
punching tool shifted away at first attempt and spoiled the mark, so
it was not legible in a satisfying way. Thus, the silversmith placed a
second mark over the first one, and of course the shifted last letters
of the partly displaced first mark did not completely match with the
second. So the result looks a bit confusing. But by enlaging the
picture, I managed to read out the name: LÜRENBAUM.

The meaning of second word, "TRIER", is clear: Trier is a town in
Germany, not far from the Rhine river.

The next step was to find a silversmith of the rare name "Lürenbaum"
who was (or still is) located in Trier and who was making chalices.
And I found him! Here is full contact information:

Juwelier Lürenbaum	
Brotstrasse 46/48	
54290 Trier	
--
Phone: +49(0)651-74366	
Fax: +49(0)651-74362
E-Mail: juwelier-luerenbaum@t-online.de
Website: http://www.luerenbaum.de/

There can be no doubt that this is the company that made the chalice.
On their website, they say (translated from German):
"In 1892, the master silversmith Josef Ferdinand Lürenbaum founded his
company. In his own workshop, he initially made exclusively items for
ecclesiastic-sacral purposes."

So this is the company you are looking for!


Search terms used:
lürenbaum trier
://www.google.de/search?hl=de&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=l%C3%BCrenbaum+trier&btnG=Suche

Best regards,
Scriptor

Fantastic work!!