Hello I’ve just bought a small souvenir spoon and wondered if I could join the French JM maker discussion? I bought my spoon on line with the feeling its maker’s mark was the JM with the “beehive “ in between the 2 letters belonging to the Paris silversmith “Joseph Mondinelli”.
My own photo of the mark confirms to me it is not this maker and also, it does not appear to be the mark of “Jules Marie” whose mark shows a lighthouse between the J and M. Additionally the “orientation” of the maker’s mark on my spoon and the illustrated “Marie” mark is 90 degrees different in the cartouches.
The mark on my spoon does appear very similar to the mark of “Jean Moucheront” as identified and pictured in the post
http://www.925-1000.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=36359.
This mark is described as having a “gabion” between the J and M. My spoon’s mark is not quite a mirror image to the slightly tapered gabion on Larryseale’s spoon, but a better match than for the “regimented” grid shown on Ubaranda’s bowl.
Is there any stylistic dating to be obtained from the silver items noted in the two posts and the working periods of the possible silversmiths? How vigorous was the registration of minor changes to marks in Paris? I would believe my spoon to be a 20th century spoon with the good image of the “Arc De Triumph” as its finial. It is an 800 standard spoon. I did also wonder if Francais might have knowledge of any other everyday item the images on Larryseale’s and my spoon’s maker’s mark could have been if not a gabion. Could it be a sheaf of corn or oats?
Yours
Fishless