PJL Mark on a Very Large French Silver Spoon

[neurorocker]

Hi there,

I am trying to get help with this French PJL and croix mark. Can anyone help please?

<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" lang="en" data-id="a/hYnf8QZ" data-context="false" ><a href="//imgur.com/a/hYnf8QZ"></a></blockquote><script async src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


https://imgur.com/a/hYnf8QZ
https://imgur.com/T8z5r4Q
https://imgur.com/Q637hS6
https://imgur.com/sC8MpsR

Thanks,
Nate

[dognose]

Hi Nate,

Please embed your images.

Trev.

[neurorocker]

I'm trying. I'm not an expert at image hosting and code.

[img]<blockquote%20class="imgur-embed-pub"%20lang="en"%20data-id="a/hYnf8QZ"><a%20href="//imgur.com/a/hYnf8QZ"></a></blockquote><script%20async%20src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js"%20charset="utf-8"></script>[/img]

[neurorocker]

Delete the thread, Trev. I can't figure it out. I'll try a different forum.

Thanks,
Nate

[dognose]

Hi Nate,






There appears to be a problem with the coding on your first image.

I'll try a different forum.

Sorry we were unable to help you as we have done numerous times in the past.

Trev.

[neurorocker]

https://imgur.com/gallery/hYnf8QZ
Let me try once more. Every time the hosting site changes, I struggle to figure this out.

N

[AG2012]

[JayT]

Your spoon was made 1798-1809 of 950 standard silver in the French provinces, as shown by the standing cock facing left in an octagonal reserve with the number 1 underneath the tail. The guarantee mark gives the number of the province. I read 50 for Orléans, but the mark is too dirty to be certain.
If someone has references for Orléans, they might find the maker for you.
Good luck in your continuing research on this object.

[neurorocker]

Thank you for your kindnesses Trev and JayT. Yes, under the loupe, I can confirm that the mark is a "50".

[blakstone]

This mark is not shown in the section of 19th century Orléans makers by Stéphanie Saulnier in Orfèvres d’Orléans (Paris: Somogy, 2003). However, the original copper registry plate of Orléans makers does not appear to have survived, and the photographic marks illustrated there are identified mostly by deduction.

That said, Saulnier does list a maker, Jérôme Letellier at 29 rue de la Faverie and later 15 coin Maugas, listed from 1796 to 1825 in Orléans almanacs and other references, noting that he married "a Boulaire".

Checking the Orléans état civil, I found the following, and I have no doubt that he is your man:

Pierre Jérôme Letellier, silversmith

Born: ca. 1766, Compiegne, Oise, son of Robert Jacques Letellier & Marie Catherine Boulanger
Married: 19 Feb 1794, Orléans, Loiret, to Marie Magdeleine Bohaire/Beauhaire (b. Artenay, Loiret ca. 1770) daughter of Jacques Bohaire & Magdeleine Germani

There were four children of the couple born in Orléans from 1795 to 1802. One of these – daughter Modeste – died in 1823, and I found one more almanac listing for Letellier in 1827. Thereafter the entire family drops from the record in Orléans. Letellier would have been 61 in 1827, a suitable age for him to retire and move to the country.

Hope this helps!

[neurorocker]

Blakstone,

That is one of the single most helpful comments I've ever received on a silver thread! In spite of my technical ineptitude, helpful people like you keep me coming back to 925 for almost a decade. I'm so grateful. Thank you. You must have an amazing library. I have a couple other French pieces I'm stuck on, so for better or worse, I may make a few more posts here. Again, thank you for taking so much time to help me.

Nate

[blakstone]

Happy to help. Coincidentally, I live in Nouvelle Orléans - New Orleans - which has been hit particularly hard by covid-19 and we are under a strict "stay at home" order right now. So I have time on my hands; post away. There are a number of very keen forum members here well-versed in French silver, so there is indeed a wealth of knowledge at your disposal.

[neurorocker]

Thanks again! I lived Uptown 2005-10 getting my PhD at TU. And I started my little shop, "Crescent City Connection" there too! Obviously named after New Orleans. I miss the people. DC people aren't the same..

Stay safe!

Nate

[Bru5no]

Sorry if my message comes late,

Pierre Jérôme Letellier died in 1843 in Beaugency where his daughter lived with her husband, Jules Simon Biguet, who was also a silversmith.

I know another mark with the letters PJL very similar but with a bee instead of a cross (and also for Orléans). I encountered the mark with a cross with "premier coq" and "deuxième coq" around 1798-1819, and the mark with a bee with "premier coq", "deuxième coq" and "vieillard" around 1798-1838.
I am happy to learn here that Pierre Jérôme Letellier may be one of these two silversmiths, but I am still looking for the other one.

[neurorocker]

Interesting! Thank you!