Page 625 - Chinese SIlver By Adrien Von Ferscht

SESSN
Canton
circa 1830-1860

THIS IS PROBABLY THE MOST UNUSUAL AND MOST ENIGMATIC CHINESE EXPORT SILVER MARK OF THE
ENTIRE 155 YEAR REPERTOIRE

Apart from being an extremely rare mark, it has also caused much controversy. Since the mark could never
really represent a true Chinese name, some experts have assumed it could have been a mark created for the
Sassoon family who were very prominent in the opium trade at this time as well as the China Trade in general.
Both Elias David Sassoon and Solomon David Sassoon would have been based in Canton at this time. It is
feasible that the Sassoons may have formed a working partnership with a Chinese Hong merchant, but there is
no evidence that silver was produced under this mark in any significant quantity. The mark does exist, however.

Equally, the CUTSHING mark had been devised for a silver manufactory partnership that is believed to have
been between John Pershing Cushing and the Hong merchant Howqua, so a convenient English-sounding name
for such a partnership already had a precedent.

The Hebrew name the Sassoon’s used would have transliterate as “Sasson”; SESSN could therefore be feasible.
It was well-known the Sassoon family copied the Rothschild habit of writing confidential notes and even some
contracts written in their native Yiddish using Hebrew letters - the Sassoons would have simply used Hebrew
since it was not widely known in either China or India.
In Cantonese, the name Sassoon was used in this form as a business name:

Image courtesy of Ralph M Chait Galleries Inc, New York; http://chinese-export-silver.com
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