French fork 1798-1809 - Additional mark FG in an oval ?

[anikopol]

Hi all,


Here it is a quite standard French silver fork.
According to the marks, this fork was made in Paris between 1798 and 1809 ("first cock" mark).




The silversmith mark is : AL surmounted by an oak leaf ?, above a compass (or a third letter ?) ?, in a losenge.
I have not identfied it yet, since I do not have immediate access to Arminjon's book on 19e s. Parisian silversmith marks. Indication on this silversmith mark would be of course appreciated.

Nevertheless, there is another mark, alone on the other side of the fork, which suprise me.



This mark seems to be FG (this typo is often called "anglaises" in French, I do not know the proper translation into English !) in an oval.
I think that I have already seen this mark once, several years ago, probably on a 19e c. silver item - I do not remember clearly.
Any idea on this mark ?

[JayT]

Hello

Your fork in the Filet pattern was made by Antoine Louis Anthiaume, initials ALA, symbol a tulip. Antoine Louis and Louis Jullien were sons of Jacques Anthiaume, renowned flatware maker of the mid-18th C.

Antoine Louis was accepted as a master on 18 December 1784 sponsored by Nicolas Marguerit. He registered his first mark on 22 December 1784. At that time he was at the Pont au Change, from 1787-1791 rue Boucher, then 1792-1793 rue Estienne.

In the post-Revolutionary period, Louis Antoine registered his mark in 1798. In 1800 he was located at 32 rue Louis, then finally at 11 rue des Orfèvres. He was still working as a flatware maker in 1806 at that address.

As for the FG mark in an oval, the style and placement suggest to me that this is a monogram.

Regards.

See:
Nocq, v. 1, p. 13-15.

Arminjon, I, no. 00296, p. 70.

[anikopol]

Dear Jay,

Thanks a lot for the information provided regarding the silversmith mark : Anthiaume Senior was indeed a well known maker, and we can suppose that his sons had a good training (in their father workshop or in a family friend workshop). Great that you also mentioned the references, I appreciate it, and I suppose that other readers also do.

As for the FG mark in an oval, you made an interesting proposal : that could be something like a personal mark of property.
Do you know another example of a collector mark that is punched in the item ?
The fact that this mark is punched rather than engraved made me at first thinking about a foreign mark like import marks, "recense" marks or marks for re-tested items, when found with foreign marks : these mark are indeed punched. Nevertheless, it seems that neither you and me recognised an already known import mark on my picture, so the "recense mark" hypothesis may not be teh best one...

[JayT]

Hello
Yes, there are many examples of punched personalizations on French flatware. This was a less expensive alternative to hand engraved monograms.

The most recent example on the forums is here:

viewtopic.php?t=64740

I’m confident that the FG on your fork is a personalization.

Regards.

[anikopol]

Hello Jay,

Yes indeed, I have already seen silver items with individual letters punched, sometimes with few recurring signs like a star or a "fleur de lys".
I get your point, and it is true that some items are personalized not only through engraving a monogram (or coat(s) of arms), but also by punching individual letters (we can guess, ususally initials of the owner).

I agree with you that this FG mark in an oval can suggest this is a monogram, a personalization mark (instead of an official mark of some country).

Nevertheless, considering this (consistent) proposal, two points still surprise me to some extend :
- punching letters and recurring signs like star is probably more simple for the silversmith and thus less expensive for client. I guess that a slversmith need something like 20-30 different punches (basically, 26 letters and few signs), and he can personnalize items at the request of his clients. On the FG mark, isn't it a punch designed/engraved especially for one specific client : this is (to me) quite unusual and from an economic point of view, I supppose that it is more costly than engraving, except if there is a signficant number of items to personalize for the same client.
- individual punched letters can normally be read easily. The FG mark, on the contrary, can be read with dificultly without magnifying glass

Of course, do not see any sort of prentention regarding my fork, which after all is not a particulary rare silver item !
And once more, thanks for your posts, it is always interesting to discuss about commons subjects of interest, and share knowledge and experiences on it.

[JayT]

Hello again
Yes, the FG mark is a matter for speculation.

In the end, you have a nice item by a prestigious maker. It deserves a gentle polish. Enjoy your fork!

Regards.

[blakstone]

Antoine Louis Anthiaume

Born: 23 Oct 1759, Paris, son of Jacques Anthiaume and Marguerite Charlotte Mignot
Married 1st: ca. Feb 1787, Paris, to Prudence Emilie Antoinette Lamarque (1768-1816); divorced 23 May 1797
Married 2nd: 15 Jan 1816, Paris, to Julie Therese Bardin (1774-1831)
Died: 12 Dec 1829, Gentilly, Val-de-Marne

[bijoux.expert]

It's important to understand what the actual reason was for personalisation of silverware.
Silver has always been expensive and, at particular periods, very few different designs of flatware were in use. This meant that if you had guests over for dinner, there was a very good chance your flatware was the same as the flatware your guests had at home.
There was therefore a possibility of a guest pocketing an item or two. It's very difficult to have to announce to your guests that some flatware is missing and that you'd like them all to turn out their pockets !
It was thus much easier to stamp or engrave flatware with a crest or initials to dissuade theft from even taking place.
The personalisation of the flatware made it very difficult for a thief to incorporate stolen items into their own service, and it also made it very difficult to sell to a buyer of silverware. It was illegal for a buyer to purchase silverware that showed signs of having had engraving or punches filed off.
Theft of silverware by members of household staff was also a problem, and silverware was generally kept in a locked box or safe.

A punch with a monogram was far cheaper to use than to have dozens of individual items hand engraved, and I come across flatware marked with these punches quite regularly.

[anikopol]

Thanks blakstone for your additional biographical information regarding Antoine Louis Anthiaume. I appreciate it.

Thanks bijoux.expert for your comment regarding personalisation of silverware.
I did not consider so far personnalisation as a protection against thieves so far.
For me, it was more like much more a "psychological" act for the owner : pleasure of making its possessed objects "unique", desire to show to guests/other people that you own precious items (and have prestigious alliance, for joint coats of arms), maybe desire to let a trace of his existence on earth for the future generations that will inherite of these items...
But since silver items are precious and costly, for sure owners prefer to protect it at best... even if, when your fork is melt by a thief to form a silver ingot, nobody can read previous owner maks anymore !
Interesting also to know that you come across flatware marked with these punches quite regularly.