A very rare Dutch silver beaker, maker's mark crescent, Zaltbommel, date letter A, circa 1693

Unfortunately, hardly any records of the Zaltbommel Guild exist. Therefore, it is rather difficult to trace names of silversmiths and date letters on silver struck with Zaltbommel town marks. Only a few names were found through extensive research in archives, see for example Gelders Zilver, Arnhem, 1955, pp. 121-123. K.A. Citroen also mentions various names in Dutch goldsmiths’and silversmiths’marks and names, prior to 1812, Leiden, 1993, p.207. Silversmiths who worked in this period are Lodewijck Linsday, Bartholomeus van Schaeck and Johannes van Schoonderhagen. The latter is known for having supplied gold and silver objects to citizens of Zaltbommel.

F.A.J. Vermeulen in his book De Nederlandse monumenten van geschiedenis en kunst [..]de monumenten in de Bommeler- en de Tielerwaard, The Hague, 1932, p.69 recorded two silver Communion beakers, inscribed on the reverse Anno 1693 Den Armen van Gameren Ducaten Silver, as property from the Reformed church in Gameren. The beaker can be traced back in records of the family until 1948. It is known that the Church counsel ordered a new Communion service in circa 1930 with the Utrecht Firm Begeer.

The connection of the Philips family to Zaltbommel is obvious. Anton Frederik Philips, father of Frits Philips, was born on March 14, 1874 in Zaltbommel, a small provincial town in the Bommelerwaard, in the Dutch province Gelderland. The Philips family, of Jewish descent, originated from Germany, from where Philip Philips and his wife Rebecca van Crefelt went to Veenendaal, near Utrecht, well known for the production of tobacco. Their son Benjamin Philips (1767-1854) settled himself in Zaltbommel, where he started an enterprise in textile and tobacco. The Philips family entirely converted to Christianity in 1826 and lived in Zaltbommel.