This small article devoted to Axel Gabriel Dufva enterprise, one of the oldest silver-plate factories in Europe. It was opened in 1847, simultaneously with other more famous foundries founded by Hermann Krupp & Alexander von Schoeller in Berndorf (1843), Charles Christofle in Paris (1844), Karl August Wellner in Aue, Saxony (1854).

Axel Gabriel Dufva (1822-1897) was born in the goldsmith family. In 1847 after the apprentice he was declared a master craftsman. Soon after that he founded a silver-plate factory in Stockholm, one of the first in Sweden. After his death his sons Harald Gabriel and John Helmer continued his business until 1936 when Dufva was absorbed by the Goldsmith Company Ltd (GuldsmedsAktieBolaget).

In my collection I keep three silver-plated Dufva items, presented below.

I think that the most interesting information for the ASCAS collectors/readers is the system of the production year marking, invented by A.G. Dufva. He took 24 letters from the Latin alphabet and referred them to 24 years, starting from 1882, in the following sequence:

A = 1888, B = 1883, C = 1884, D = 1885, E = 1886, F = 1887,
G = 1888, H = 1889, I = 1890, K = 1891, L = 1892, M = 1893,
N = 1894, O = 1895, P = 1896, Q = 1897, R = 1898, S = 1899,
T = 1900, U = 1901, V = 1902, X = 1903, Y = 1904, Z = 1905

This sequence of letters was repeated after 1905 with a digit 2 added to each letter, that means:

A2 = 1906, B2 = 1907, C2 = 1908, D2 = 1909, E2 = 1910, F2 = 1911,
G2 = 1912, H2 = 1913, I2 = 1914, K2 = 1915, L2 = 1916, M2 = 1917,
N2 = 1918, O2 = 1919, P2 = 1920, Q2 = 1921, R2 = 1922, S2 = 1923,
T2 = 1924, U2 = 1925, V2 = 1926, X2 = 1927,

The production year marking after 1927 is not known. Some typical Dufva marks for silver plate (since 1897 the the company also produced sterling items) are shown below.

I am grateful to Mr. Anders Wigh, who gave me the first information about the Dufva foundry. I also want to thank Ms. Helena Sergeyev for her translation from Swedish and Dr. Lars Lindqvist for his involvement. The author is also indebted to Mr. Chris Turner who sent him a photograph of Dufva item issued in 1927.

N°	MARK	COMMENT
1		Marked by three inscriptions: 1) "A.G.DUFVA", which means Axel Gabriel Dufva, the length of "DUFVA" word is 4.6 mm, the ratio of the word’s length to its height is 5.5; 2) "NS", which means nickel silver and 3) "G", which means 1888. This mark was in use at least between 1888 and 1896.
2		Marked by the inscriptions "A.G.DUFVA" and "ALPACCA" given inside the circle of 5.6 mm in diameter. There are intermediate dots after the "A" and "G" initials, as well as the separating horizontal dots. A flying dove profile ("dufva" means "dove" in Swedish) is given in the centre of the mark. The inscription "G2", given in a cartouche, means 1912. Such mark was used at least between 1910 and 1927.

LITERATURE
Dufva årsstämpelserie (Dufva’s production year marking), discussion of 30.03.2009,
http://www.antikviteter.net/cgi-bin/discus/discus.cgi click search (sök) in the division "silver, guld and tenn" ("silver, gold and tin"), (in Swedish)