Collection: Africa and the Middle East/Turkey
The Cape of Good Hope was first settled by Europeans in the 1600s. It was controlled mainly by the Dutch initially and then became a British colony in the early 1800s. There were a number of silversmiths working in this part of southern Africa in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They often incorporated pseudo British hallmarks, but also had some punches of their own devices. There were a number of silversmithing families who had a number of makers with their own marks. An interesting collecting area for those interested in colonial history.
On the other end of the continent, silver was being produced in places such as Egypt and the Sudan with a much more Arabic flavour. Egypt had a legal hallmarking system and pieces turn up reasonably often.
The Middle East and Turkey all had silversmiths working in various styles. The Ottoman Empire also had an official hallmarking system that was adapted and used by the Turkish Republic.