I need some help identifying some pieces please, if anyone knows anything about these

[Ghost in the Machine]

Cross-posted from Ebay, Collectors & Antiques forum;

They all appear to be brass. The plate has a felt covering on the bottom. I'm pretty sure the fat round one is a cremation urn, and the one other appears to be a vase, and is the only one with a marking that says "India" on the bottom.. Thanks in advance:

[Cassandra]

1. I'd say the plate is Arabic...

by the writing. The urn may not be a funeral urn, but may be decorative. All across the Middle East and India, brassworkers work in traditional styles. I don't know how to tell how old it is.

[Ghost in the Machine]

2. Thank you, Cassandra

I'm not sure how old they are either, but they came out of an old barn...

[Whoa_Nelly]

3. The lidded urn and the vase look like India Benares Brass

The tray looks to be Kashmir Brass design

[Ghost in the Machine]

6. Thank you, I'm doing some googling and reading now..

I didn't even have a starting point before.. this info at least gives me that

[Whoa_Nelly]

8. Benares brass urns

From this site: http://www.denhams.com/printer.php?SaleNumber=489§ion_slug=toys-carpets-memorabilia-militaria&sub_section_slug=other

[Whoa_Nelly]

9. Some basic Indian Brass info

http://www.culturopedia.com/Crafts/metal.html

[Whoa_Nelly]

4. Are there any maker or ID marks?

on back of tray or under base of the urn or vase?

[Ghost in the Machine]

12. Only on the vase, it has a stamp that says

Made in India, then below it is a mark that looks like a number 4 that was done with a punch instead of a stamp.. I can't find anything on the plate or urn. The urn has a lot of engravings that look like elephants, gazelles and dogs...

The vase is 10 inches tall, the urn is 12 inches and the plate is 12 inches across..

[Warpy]

5. Only because I've seen similar things

I'd take a wild guess and say northern to northwest India, including what eventually turned into Pakistan.

Whether they date back to the British Raj or were just souvenirs picked up on a trip that nobody cared to display after a while is for an appraiser to say.

[Whoa_Nelly]

7. Definitely looking Persian

Especially the tray http://www.newtraditionspta.com/indian-calligraphy-2/

[Warpy]

11. I thought Persian for a nanosecond

but their calligraphy is usually more tightly constrained.

I'm no expert, though. An appraiser of Islamic art needs to see it.

[Ghost in the Machine]

13. Thank you, I guess I will have to try to find an appraiser around here somewhere...

I'll probably have to go to Knoxville though. I took them by a few antique shops but they didn't know anything about them.

What should I look under to find an appraiser?

Thanks for your help on this

[Warpy]

15. First, find out who owned the barn and how they might have

gotten left in there. That might give you a clue as to how old (or new) they are.

Google "appraiser Islamic art" and see what you can get. They should be able to narrow the region down even if it's outside their area of expertise.

Third, remember that all of us on here are just guessing, although the Arabic calligraphy is pretty obvious. The three objects could be from completely different regions and sold in some import tchotchke store in one of the big cities. They ended up in the barn because Mother was less than amused. She'd sent Pop to the big city for a new washing machine.

[JCMach1]

10. Most likely Syrian...

doesn't quite look Persian to me. Caveat Emptor... it is really hard to gauge the age on metal objects like this one.

Frequently, you will have a city, or maker mark in Arabic on the bottom.

http://www.google.ae/images?hl=en&source=hp&biw=1245&bih=621&q=syrian+brass&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

for other examples

I see a lot of these kinds of things in the Souq shops that sell antiques here in the UAE.

The top ones appear to be of Indian design though. I have a similar large platter back in my home in Florida.

[Ghost in the Machine]

14. Yes, that's one of the issues I am looking at, the age...

I have no idea how old they are, only that they had belonged to someone's parents and the mother had had them for a long time..

[Ghost in the Machine]

16. afternoon kick..

Thanks to everyone for all the info so far.. I think I found a local antique appraiser, I'm going to call tomorrow and see if I can bring them by there.