www.925-1000.com

Hello, I recently bought a French spoon, about 14 centimetres long. It intrigued me, as it appeared to carry a square, Christofle mark, and also what appears to me a typical lozenge French silversmith’s mark.



The square, Christofle mark appears to be one of the marks shown in the “Christofle Marks & History” paper referenced in our Library, Articles on Silver, section. The foot note to that image is vague “difficult to date beyond a rough estimation of late 19th to early 20th Century” (that was 2007).
I understand Christofle “absorbed” other companies, so is this where the silversmith’s mark came from or did they have their own silversmiths using personal marks?



It is a very nice spoon with an exaggerated pointed bowl and has a full gold wash. There is even a Bigorne mark on the reverse the 1st Standard Minerva mark. The maker’s mark appears to me to be a central religious “cross” with an “L” beginning to the maker’s second name with “stars” around the illegible, possible “I” start letter of the maker’s first name. I have tried to find a likely maker to date the spoon but without success. Can the Forum offer any enlightenment? I thought the Bigorne mark could have helped dating but I saw a note that suggested those marks were still being used into the 1930’s and I think the spoon is older than that. Do we think this could be a grapefruit spoon? Please can there be clariifaication of the maker's mark and the Christofle mark?

Fishless

Hello
This is one of the marks used by Louis Lenain. Please use the search function for a number of posts about this maker.

As has been detailed in the forum, Christofle outsourced its 950 standard silver production to various companies, not having production capabilities to make solid silver.

The very pointed bowls of your spoons were a design element, and were not made for eating grapefruit..

Hope this helps.

Regards.

Thank you very much JayT for the quick information. I checked the Forum for posts relating to Louis Lenain. I see there were a father and son using the same mark and with my spoon marked with Minerva’s head the earliest date for it would be 1838. There is the note that this spoon’s “LL” mark was cancelled 1882. The Forum Christofle paper I referenced suggests “By the early 1850’s Charles [Christofle] added a line of silverware to complement the plated goods” so would 1850 –1882 be the possible dating of my spoon?
I see also from the one of the other posts that a second mark, this time without the stars, was registered in 1855. Do you think this may have been the son, Louis Victor Edouard Lenain, making sure he had an actual mark of his own?

Thank you again for the pervious information.

Fishless

Hello
The Lenain mark you show with the cross and 2 stars is that of Lenain elder, and therefore dates pre-1855. Furthermore the Louis-Philippe style of the spoons with the pointed bowl also suggests a pre-mid-19th C date. Together with the Minerva head, maker mark and style you could say 1838-1855 for your spoons.

It is difficult to pin down precise dating of French 19th C silver, particularly for a maker whose production spans almost a century.

Good luck in your research.

Regards.