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I have this fiddleback spoon that has a Minerva hallmark and what appears to be a "CLÉMENT" markers mark. But I have been unable to find out anything about a French silversmith named Clement. The mark also appears to have a key above the name and a five point star below. I would appreciate any assistance confirming 1) whether this mark is Clement and 2) any information about the silversmith. Thank you in advance.
Probably a mark of Camille Clément, a contract jeweller, who operated at 7 boulevard Saint-Denis, Paris.
Active between 1898 and 1910.
Symbol : a key over a five-pointed star.
No, this is the mark of Guillaume Clément, spoonmaker at 11 rue des Orfèvres, registered 2 Jan 1838. He had registered an earlier mark - G.C. with the same symbols, a key and a star – 4 Jul 1820 to 30 Dec 1837 at the same address and as the successor of Charles-Joachim-Benjamen Dallegmagne (working 1786-1820).
There is no cancellation date of this second mark, but Clément was last listed in the Paris Directory in 1842. I found a record of his second marriage on 9 Apr 1825 to Anne Marie Aglaé Lefevre, as well as the marriages of his adult children (by his first wife Marguerite Françoise Lamotte), daughter Françoise Esther Clément in 1833 and son François Isidore Clément (also a silversmith) in 1841. Given all this, it seems likely that Clément was not a young man by 1842, and either died or retired around that time.
This ca. 1840 date is very much in keeping with the Louis-Philippe style of the spoon.
Ref: Catherine Arminjon, James Beaupuis, & Michèle Bilimoff, Dictionnaire des Poinçons de Fabricants d'Ouvrages d'Or et d'Argent de Paris et de la Seine 1798-1838 (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1991), p. 108, No. 745; p. 153 No. 1298 & P. 185, NO. 1670
Thank you very much for the quick and very detailed reply. This is very helpful and gives me a lot more history on the origins of the spoon. Thank you again.