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This is a Fiddle and Thread salt spoon. It has the “Swan” mark for silver of unknown origin. In a thread from 2006 a question was asked about a letter “P” within the cartouche. The opinion was that it probably referred to the Paris Assay Office.

The mark on this spoon has a capital “M” just above the swan’s tail. Would anyone have an opinion as to what this signifies.

The mark is too small to photograph successful, so the picture below is a copy for reference.

Paul.

These symbols are are known as différents and were used, from 1838, in French marks to indicate which provincial assay office applied the mark. Différents be could not only Latin letters, but also an ancient Greek or Arabic letter or an astronomical symbol. "M" was (and still is, I believe) the mark of the office in Marseilles (Bouches-de-Rhône) from 7 Feb 1868; before that the Marseilles mark was an Arabic "g".

The Paris office was indicated by the absence of any différent. The "P" mentioned in the earlier thread was for the office in Pontarlier (Doubs) which opened on 29 Mar 1865 and closed some time after 1925.

Thanks for the information. It is always nice to solve a mystery.

Paul.