SR maker's mark with axe on French tastevin

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crewenna
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Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2014 1:14 pm

SR maker's mark with axe on French tastevin

Post by crewenna »

I have a French silver tastevin with the 'Minerva 1' silver standard mark and a maker's mark I cannot identify.
The maker's mark is in a 'landscape' format lozenge cartouche with the letters 'S' and 'R', both letters being pierced by what looks like a battle axe, with the head of the axe towards the left.
Can anyone identify this please?
dognose
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Re: SR maker's mark with axe on French tastevin

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crewenna
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2014 1:14 pm

Re: SR maker's mark with axe on French tastevin

Post by crewenna »

I have a French silver tastevin with the 'Minerva 1' silver standard mark and a maker's mark I cannot identify.
The maker's mark is in a 'landscape' format lozenge cartouche with the letters 'S' and 'R', both letters being pierced by what looks like a crude battle axe, with the head of the axe towards the left.
Can anyone identify this please?
Image
Image
Francais

Re: SR maker's mark with axe on French tastevin

Post by Francais »

I can't tell you the maker, but I can be of some help. First it is a jeweler's or silversmith's hammer not an axe. So you can see why a photo is important, and you took a very good one. Then is looks like SR but it could be SP with a crack, making it looks like SR. Unfortunately it is probably not Paris, I have checked the three lists I have it is not shown. If it is provincial, there is no master list, just some lists included in some regional books on 18th. c silver, those makers are usually before the end of the 19th c. You can often tell where a taster is from, when they are early, from the style. Yours is a late one probably after 1920, so the maker's mark won't be in the regional books. You might get lucky as there are a couple of experts who have surprised me by recognizing a maker's mark, but otherwise your search is probably going to be fruitless.
Maurice
JayT
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Re: SR maker's mark with axe on French tastevin

Post by JayT »

Hello - Please look carefully to see if there is a letter on the far left of the lozenge. It looks to me like there might be a faint letter aligned with the axe handle. If so, I might be able to help.
crewenna
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Jan 28, 2014 1:14 pm

Re: SR maker's mark with axe on French tastevin

Post by crewenna »

Oh my goodness - it's now over a year since I posted this and hadn't realised I had replies! (Should I not get notifications about replies? Perhaps I hadn't ticked the box!) So sorry about that, Jay T and Maurice (Francais)!
Thanks for your attempts at helping with this. Yes, Maurice, I would agree that the maker may well be SP rather than SR. But no, Jay T, I cannot make out anything more on the maker's mark than what you can see in the photograph.
What doesn't show on my photograph of the entire tastevin is an inscription on the other side, reading "A Bichot et Cie 1931" which I realise has no significance in establishing a date, as it is probably a commemorative piece - possibly a centenary of Bichot's vineyards? - which would fit in with your suggestion, Maurice, that it is post 1920. Another feature which strikes me as 'modern' and machine-made, is the fact that the handle is made from silver wire rather than a flattened section.
I managed to glean one more piece of information from the seller who told me that, when he lived in France some years ago, he had bought it from the Dubuis family at St Emilion.
I will be posting photographs in a few days of a serpent-handle tastevin, the hallmarks of which I am having trouble understanding, and I'd appreciate any observations on that one too!
Many thanks for your help, and again my apologies for my tardy (no pun intended) reply.
Mike
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