www.925-1000.com

Picture of set I have had in the family for 75 years. Note creast and hallmarks: Unknow and unable to locate.
Creast: "Dant Adversa Decus"
Hallmarks: 1er FG and a shield


This is a sterling set and very well made. I appreciate any help. I have looked all over this site and others.

Thank you,
Dave


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I believe the Latin motto means "Adversities bring/give honour".

Miles

Your very nice coffeepot and creamer are Swiss. Specifically, the shield is the city mark for the city of Lausanne, Canton Vaud, Switzerland. "1er" is a contraction of "Premier", i.e. "First", for the old Vaud first silver standard of 11 deniers, or 916/1000 (not quite sterling, but close enough).

The maker "FG" is Frères Gély [Gély Brothers], Marc (1787-1871) and Charles (1789-1860) Gély, grandsons of silversmith David-Benoît Gély (1734-1809). They were active from 1813, successors to the prolific and prestigious Swiss firm of Papus & Dautun. Frères Gély were without question the best Lausanne silversmiths of the first half of the 19th century. Given the style of your set, i would date it around 1820-30.

The arms have a motto and are properly tinctured; given that - and that you now also know the set's Swiss origins - I would strongly suggest you go to a good library and start hunting through some heraldic books to see if you can identify the arms and, perhaps, the set's original owner.

Hope this helps!

Thank you so much! You knowledge about this has me so fascinated. I will follow up with this. I live In Albany NY and we have the state library close by. I had taken it to one of those appraisal days at the museum and they were stumped (they thought it was French), so my hats of to you!!!


Sincerely,

Dave
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You're welcome. I can save you a few more steps, too. I googled the motto (mottoes are a good place to start when researching an armorial) and found in Google books (a great online repository of books in the public domain) a book on Swiss bookplates. It listed your motto and coat of arms and identified them as those of the du Thon family of Bonvillars, a municipality in the Vaud canton.