Maker of French fork

[niceguy1]

HELLO

Who is the maker of this French fork & what standard of silver is it? worth noting is the interesting crest.

THANK YOU

[Zilver2]

Hello,
FL, mark of silversmith François Laslier, 380 rue Saint-Denis, Paris
Worked for Maison Odiot.
His company was bought by Puiforcat.
1836-1858
Silver fineness is .950

[niceguy1]

Many thanks.

[agphile]

I don't know whether you were wanting comment on the crest. It looks like a British one, probably Scottish as the Scots were more prone to having their mottos engraved. My copy of Fairbairn attributes the motto (Fac et Spera - Do and Hope) to a number of families but doesn't show any of them as having this crest which I think would be describes as "out of a mural coronet an arm in armour embowed, in hand a sword".

[niceguy1]

HI

I think it might be associated with the Matheson family from Scotland.

[agphile]

Matheson is one of the several families to use this motto, but the crest is different: a right hand holding a scimitar (not a sword), no mural coronet and without the arm in armour. The heraldic differences are too great to let us think we are simply looking at two versions of the same crest. I fear here is more searching needed to find a family that uses both the crest and the motto on your spoon, always assuming it is an official rather than a self-awarded crest.