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Dear all,
I need your help to decipher an A950 hallmark and which I therefore assume is the fineness of the silver, but which I cannot place as French, from the bibliography consulted and from the searches I cannot find a French piece marked like this and which is genuine., which I found impressed on a late 19th tastevin, the shape and model of the cup are consistent with the Loire's ones from Angers, also I haven't found a match on the Arminjon of the silversmith's mark, AF between a star, can anyone help me?
Perhaps Belgian A (Argent) 950/000
The Belgian square responsibility mark looks like the letter S with an device above or under.
Please clean the mark and show a clear enhanced image or describe the device/symbol.
Perhaps a ciborium or...?
I agree that the A950 looks like a Belgian mark, probably importation. The maker "AF" with a star inside a square is that of Auger Freres of Paris: brothers Louis George and Emile Paul Auger, sons of Alphonse Auger (1837-1904), whose business they continued.
Dear Oel thank you very much for the prompt reply, so I can assume that the tastevin was brought to Belgium and re-marked here according to current legislation, however it does not add up why the French Minerva is for a lower title, i.e. 800/1000 while in Belgium it even becomes 950!
Moreover, Blakstone, thanks as always for enlightening me blind alleys, here is the p. 46 with detail of the catalogation relating to Auger & Falguieres Louis and Joseph, the hallmark does not seem to be exactly like mine and theirs is actually described as: une auge et un croissant audessus, translate <<a trough and a crescent above>>, perhaps the silvermark of the father Alphonse Auger was more lik it...
What about the change of title of the metal?
Oel I will clean the punch to try to better understand who it can be attributed to, thus removing the French brothers from the shortlist of eligible candidates
Dear Oel
you're right, I was looking at another piece while cataloging this one!
So the mistery so there still remains the unsolved mystery of who the silversmith of the piece is....
It is made, as Blakstone wrote, by Auger Freres, and fully hallmarked. If it was made in Belgium you would aspect to find the French weevil mark for import of a treaty country. In 1869 Belgium, the obligatory assay, marking and marking duty were abolished.However could still be done done on a voluntary basis. From that moment on Belgian silversmith applied themselves the fineness mark, here A950, next to there responsibility mark. Try to clean the Belgian mark and show us a clear enhanced image, perhaps we might find the Belgian importer.
The father Alphonse Auger used the letters AA with symbol; étoile dans un carré/star in a square, the mark on your tastevin clearly shows the letter AF.
AF,indeed the symbol not une auge et un croissant audessus/a trough and a crescent above but an étoile dans un carré/star in a square and perhaps used by Auger Freres of Paris: brothers Louis George and Emile Paul Auger, sons of Alphonse Auger (1837-1904), whose business they continued after their father's death.
Louis George Auger, son of Alphonse Auger, was born in 1864, so he cannot possibly be the Louis Auger of the firm of Auger & Falguieres who registered a mark in 1865; their mark is completely different and the name, I think, pure coincidence. The French Cultural Patrimony site does not record the registry date of the Auger Freres mark, but it does have the mark of Louis George Auger - GA with a star in a square - registered in 1900. The company was using the name of Auger Freres by 1907 when they merged with Froment-Meurice. Auger Freres did register a square silverplate mark in 1931 with the same initials and device - AF with a star in a square - which confirms that the mark was indeed that of Auger Freres.
blakstone wrote: ↑Tue Jun 27, 2023 2:20 pm
Louis George Auger, son of Alphonse Auger, was born in 1864, so he cannot possibly be the Louis Auger of the firm of Auger & Falguieres who registered a mark in 1865; their mark is completely different and the name, I think, pure coincidence. The French Cultural Patrimony site does not record the registry date of the Auger Freres mark, but it does have the mark of Louis George Auger - GA with a star in a square - registered in 1900. The company was using the name of Auger Freres by 1907 when they merged with Froment-Meurice. Auger Freres did register a square silverplate mark in 1931 with the same initials and device - AF with a star in a square - which confirms that the mark was indeed that of Auger Freres.
Dear Oel and Blakstone, I can't help but say that you are right :-)
and thank you great sages, could you tell me more about the rules of the Mercury head export hallmark in force since 1840 in France and about the return hallmark? translating from French into Italian, I am roughly missing many pieces and I don't quite understand if it is correct to say that 1) those pieces intended for export were exempt, the maker, from paying guarantee taxes and in this case they had to affix prior proof, to affix the French hallmark on a metal bead made according to an established model and attached with a silk thread to the finished work??!! why it is not removed, ans in seconda case ") or were they stamped according to the laws in force and but with the benefit of remuneration for export costs?
huh?? I did not understand anything! I'm reading both pp. 18-19 from the Dcitionairre vol.II Arminjon and p. 204-205 of Tardy, 1995 ed.
Instead, I understood that the return mark, first the "charancon mark" and then the "tete de lievre" were affixed to the objects re-imported into France to be resold, but what about the export taxes already paid to the manufacturer? and who pays for the import ones? I'm confused I'm sure @Blakstone as always will throw his anchor of light at me
Oel for responsibility mark what do you mean exactly? the warranty mark? sorry i cant understand, the Belgian hallmark hides nothing else, there is only the A950, and then if it was exported to Belgium why is there no Mercury head as we would expect there must be to get out of France?
Veryvery grateful if you can answer me and tell me yours
Calm down, you're making it all much more confusing.
Your tastevin has no French export hallmark (Mercury Head), domestic hallmark only (Minerva Head) . In short, the tastevin probably bought by someone in Paris and transferred to Belgium. In Belgium it came into the hands of a Belgian silversmith who provided it with his responsibility mark along with the A950 mark.
Responsibility mark; could be a maker's mark, importer's mark or sponsor mark. Again please show us an cleaned, enhanced image of the Belgian responsibility mark.
In the 19th century, France developed hallmarks that identified all of the following, in short:
- Marks that indicated if an item has been assayed by cupellation.(Minerva Head)
- Marks that indicated if an item was assayed by touchstone and therefore had a limited guarantee.(Eagle head, Boar Head, Crab)
- Maks for imported items that indicated each precious metal and each standard of fineness.(Weevil,Swan, Owl)
- Marks that indicated by core image that an item was imported from a treaty or non treaty country. (Weevil, ET, Swan, Owl)
- Marks for each precious metal and each standard of fineness that indicated if an item was to be exported, and therefore tax exempt.(Mercury Head)
- Marks that showed that an exported item had been returned to France and that the duty had been paid making it legal for domestic sale.(Hare)
- marks for imported watches (cases and/or movements).(RF, Chimera, Dove)
- Marks that indicated either size or weight (i.e., large and small, +/- 10 grams or multiples of 10).
To discourage hallmarking fraud and deter the illegal practice of transposing marks from one item to another, a system to countermark each hallmark was adopted. The process utilized a special insect-engraved anvil, called a bignorne. The patterns engraved into the anvil depicted zigzag rows of different insects, and items to be hallmarked were placed on top of them. When the item was stamped with a hallmark, the reverse side was impressed with the insect patterns from the anvil, leaving a countermark.
Peter.
Source; World Hallmarks Volume I, hallmarks of Europe 19th to 21st Centuries William B. Whetstone, Danusia V. Niklewicz, Lindy L. Matula 2nd Edition, page 100, 101 France.
Dear Peter, thank you very much for all the info which, however, is already known to me, I don't want to say that I am educated on the subject, on the contrary, but in this case I was referring precisely to the situation of the taxes to be paid or not in case of export and punching of the piece with the head of mercury, both Arminojn and the Tardy mention two different situations for the application of this export hallmark (head of mercury) depending on whether or not the good has been hallmarked with the legal marks of the country. they are two different legal procedures and made official by the state, I would like to understand the difference and what this entails for the manufacturer.
sorry but I did not understand what you mean in your first point with <<- Marks that indicated if an item has been assayed by cupellation.(Minerva Head), what does cupellation mean?
Before 1840, silversmiths were refunded 2/3 of the assay duty on any items they exported out of France. This was changed to a 100% exemption of duty, which meant that the regular marks – which indicated payment of duty – could not be used. Under the new law, silversmiths had three options:
1) Bring completed items to the assay office for testing, after which they would be placed, unmarked, in a box affixed with a tamper-free seal; the silversmith had 10 days to export the box out of the country.
2) Bring completed or near-completed items to the assay office for testing, which would then be marked with the new Mercury’s Head export mark; the office would keep records of these items and the silversmith would have to provide proof of the item’s exportation within a prescribed time period.
3) Bring completed or near-completed items to the assay office for testing, pay the duty and have the items struck with the Minerva’s Head (or other official guarantee mark) and, when the items were exported, have them struck again with the Mercury’s Head mark and receive a 2/3 refund on the duty (as was the case before the new law was passed).
So French items exported after 1840 could have both guarantee marks and the export mark, only the export mark, or no marks at all. Any unmarked items which found their way back to France would, of course, be considered foreign and subject to importation duty and struck with the appropriate “ant” mark. The “hare’s head” return mark was introduced in 1888 to be struck on items bearing the Mercury Head mark as proof that the duty from which they had been exempted on export had been collected and paid upon re-importation.
However, all of this, I think, does not have any bearing on the marks on your tastevin. I think more likely it was a personal item (rather than a commercial export) that found its way to Belgium, under which circumstances it would have been exempt from French import/export marking.
