Wiskemann, Brussels - Silver Plated Art Deco Cutlery Canteen - N.16 "Standard" - 117-piece/12-pax. - Belgium, c. 1930

A beautiful silver plated set of cutlery from the Art Deco period, made around 1930 by the Orfevrerie Otto Wiskemann of Brussels. The three-drawer canteens contains a cutlery set of no fewer than 117 high-quality silver-plated pieces - including serving cutlery, cutlery for the starter, main course and desserts. The whole is suitable for 12 people and offers a 9-piece place setting for each table guest. All pieces are typically Art Deco in design, with sleek, geometric shapes. A nice detail is that the blades of the knives are halfway serrated, and halfway with a smooth cutting edge.

Consisting of:
- 12 dinner spoons
- 12 dinner knives
- 12 dinner forks
- 12 starter/lunch spoons
- 12 starter/lunch knives
- 12 appetizer/lunch forks
- 12 oyster forks
- 12 pastry forks
- 12 coffee spoons

Serving cutlery:
- Sauce spoon
- Fish serving scoop
- Fish serving fork
- Sardine fork
- 2 cold meat forks
- Butter knife
- Jam spoon
- Sugar tongs

The cutlery is in excellent condition for its age. There are some small scratches. The silver layer is completely intact and the luster is beautifully preserved. Please view the photos for an impression.

Marked on the backside of the pieces: [OW+][100]. The blades of the knives also bear the Wiskemann logo.

The last photo shows the cutlery model depicted in Wiskemann's 1931 sales catalog.

In 1872, Otto Leonard Wiskemann, descendant of a German family with a long history in silversmithing, started a workshop in the Rue des Longs Chariots in Brussels. In the years before that he had worked as an apprentice in Paris, where he learned the necessary tricks of the trade. He had also witnessed the introduction of electrolytic silver plating, introduced from England to continental Europe by Charles Christofle. Thanks to this experience and knowledge, Otto was able to start up a company in the 1870's that would later become the most famous silversmith in Belgium and a standard bearer of quality. The heyday was between the two World Wars. The company finally went under in the 1970's; a century of history of Belgian silversmithing came to an end.