A metalwork deposit from the possesion at Szeroka Street in Płock (mid-19th - early 20th century)

Abstract

The article discuses a deposit of metalwork (silver and silver-plated cutlery, silver and gilded cups; fi g. 1), dated to approximately mid-19th – early 20th c. The aim is to characterize individual artefacs, to hypothesize who may have been their owner, to identify their origin, to investigate the circumstances of their deposition and to describe the time and place of their discovery.The deposit includes four teaspoons (fi g. 2), two spoons and two forks (fi g. 4) used for main courses, and three mugs (fi g. 7), which were probably Kiddush cups, used by Jews for ritual purposes; the Kiddush prayer on Sabbath and other festive days was recited over such a cup fi lled with red wine. The analyzed artefacts differ signifi cantly in shape and size. Similarities can be found between three teaspoons, which probably came from a single set. Nine items bear trademarks, and four also have monograms (fi g. 5), which provides some clues as to the place and time of their manufacture. All of them were cast in silver or a silver-plated alloy known as nickel silver (new silver). The silver plating on each nickel-silver artefact has partly worn out. Most of the cutlery pieces are plain and simple, showing good proportions. Elaborate ornaments are found on only fi ve items: a silver-plated brass teaspoon (fi g. 2:4), one of the silver spoons (fi g. 4:1) and three silver cups, two of them gilded (fi g. 7:1; 7:3; 7:5). The deposit includes both mass-produced every-day pieces and more refi ned items, some of the latter being probably religious cult objects.Seven of the pieces bear the hallmark of the Warsaw assay offi ce and were produced by fi rms based there, including famous ones, like Fraget, Norblin and Utracki. One brass teaspoon, one nickel-silver fork and two pieces of cutlery of non-noble metal have no trademarks. Two gilded silver cups were probably made by Russian goldsmiths, one in Moscow and the other in Kiev. The cups are the most ornate and the most valuable items in the deposit. The artefacts were discovered in 2009 in Płock, during an emergency archaeological inte-rvention in the area of the present Bielska St, Kwiatka St and Sienkiewicza St, which is now in the centre of Płock, but used to be part of the Bielskie Suburb, north of the historical town, beyond the Bielska Gate (fi g. 10). The deposit was found in the remains of an annexe at 40 Kwiatka St (formerly 40 Szeroka St) (fi g. 11). It had been hidden under the plastering in a cellar; initially it was wrapped in cloth, of which only shreds survived. The annexe was prob-ably built before 1845; it survived the two world wars and was demolished only in 1988. Between 1814 and 1941 the plot on which the deposit was found, the buildings there and the business conducted there were in the hands of Jews. In 1812–1862 the plot was within the Jewish Quarter, a separate section of the town allocated for Orthodox Jews. During WW II, between 15th September 1940 and 1st March 1941, it was part of the open ghetto. Two of the artefacts bear the dates of hallmarking, 1873 and 1896, which suggest the approximate time of their manufacture. The latter date indicates the terminus post quem of the deposit. Other clues lead to the conclusion that the items were produced between 1850 and 1915. Thus, it is likely that they were accumulated over a long time and used by more than one generation. Although differing in material value, they must have had a sentimental value and were probably hidden when the owner felt endangered, most likely during WW II, between 1939 and 1941. The person who did this never recovered them and they remained in a building that was in normal use in the years 1941-1988, surviving underground after its demolition until 2009. Thus, they may have lain hidden for about over seventy years.