18th-Century French Hallmarks

[ShinySpoon]

Hello everyone,

I've always found the topic of 18th-century French hallmarks quite complex. However, with this spoon, I'm even more uncertain—I'm not sure which city it’s from, why it appears to have two maker’s marks, and so on.








I would be truly grateful if someone could help me understand more about this piece.

Thank you all very much in advance!

Best regards,
David

[Bru5no]

Hi,

Ref Christophe Ginter, Les 6000 poinçons de l'orfèvrerie française sous Louis XVI (1774-1791) :

ILC with a fleur de lys is Jean Lecestre, silversmith in Nantes 1751-1785.
The small mark is the décharge for small objects for the area of Rennes (Britanny) 1775-1781.
The interlaced letters RN (for Rennes and Nantes) are the charge for small objects in the same area 1775-1781.
The letter I with hermines is the jurande (city mark) for Nantes 1776.
Then the décharge again and the contremarque of 1781 (the contremarque is a global mark to control old objects)

So your spoon has been made in Nantes by Jean Lecestre in 1776.

[ShinySpoon]

Hi,

Ref Christophe Ginter, Les 6000 poinçons de l'orfèvrerie française sous Louis XVI (1774-1791) :

ILC with a fleur de lys is Jean Lecestre, silversmith in Nantes 1751-1785.
The small mark is the décharge for small objects for the area of Rennes (Britanny) 1775-1781.
The interlaced letters RN (for Rennes and Nantes) are the charge for small objects in the same area 1775-1781.
The letter I with hermines is the jurande (city mark) for Nantes 1776.
Then the décharge again and the contremarque of 1781 (the contremarque is a global mark to control old objects)

So your spoon has been made in Nantes by Jean Lecestre in 1776.

Hello Bru5no,

thank you very much for the detailed answer! Have a nice day :)

Best regards,
David