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You’re right, the mark on the thumb piece could be anything.

Hello
There are normally 2 or 3 initials in the maker’s mark, depending on the name of the maker. In this case, it looks like there might have been 3.

No, not correct. The Minerva head mark indicates 950 standard silver made after 1838. Please read the table linked by @AG2012 for full information about the French marking system.
The maker cannot be determined with only 1 initial showing.
Regards.

Hello Please excuse the delay in responding. I don’t believe your wine taster dates from the 18th C because of lack of concordance between all the marks. Specifically, from left to right: -The first mark appears to be an export mark of a ewer, purportedly from 1780-89. -The second mark of a crowned ...

Hello I appreciate how difficult it can be to get sharp images of the marks, especially on a curved surface. However, your photos aren’t clear enough to make an identification. There should be 4 marks on 18thC French silver: charge, date letter, maker, and discharge. All 4 marks should be in concord...

My pleasure!

Hello You’re so right: this forum offers a wealth of information. To be fair, it would be difficult to have a complete listing of French makers here. There are specialized dictionaries of French marks for that. For example, Arminjon lists 3,368 Paris makers registered between 1798-1838, and 3,992 Pa...

Hello
Please see the post below for the answer to who made your box

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=58190&p=190286&hilit=Jonquoy#p190286

Regards

An oyster knife?

@AG2012 You’re right. Louis XVI is usually depicted with his hair in puffs or rolls over the ears, then long in back, sometimes tied with a ribbon. Nevertheless I still think he is a good candidate because of the symbols for Marie Antoinette, Louis XVI’s wife, depicted on the box: bows and roses. Bu...

Hello
I think this is a portrait of a monarch, given the ermine collared robe he is wearing. My vote goes to the French king, Louis XVI.
Roth romanticized French history and copied French marks, so I think Louis XVI is a strong possibility.
Regards

Good luck in your continuing research on this object.
Regards.

Hello again Thanks for the interesting information about gaming pieces and dice. I don’t know anything about these items, but I do know a bit about the French silver marking system, and French silver makers. I can assure you Biennais’ silver maker’s mark did not change in appearance after he was app...

Hello Here are some comments regarding this unusual item: -Silversmith makers’s marks in France were legislated in terms of shape, size and placement. You wouldn’t expect to find a silversmith’s mark on an object made of ivory, bone or wood. -It was not usual to have silversmiths retail other fancy ...

Your fish servers are typical of late nineteenth century French flatware. I see no reason to believe that the pattern dates from the production of Tirbour’s predecessors. To be certain you’d have to find Tirbour’s printed catalogue. As background reading you might find interesting David Allan’s book...

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Hello Your fish servers, in the Louis XVI style, date to the turn of the nineteenth century. To add to Trev’s excellent information, Tirbour was a manufacturing silversmith and cutler from 1897-1951, successor to Félix Malique, who in turn had succeeded Pellerin-Lemoing. All these manufacturers spec...

My pleasure Amena.
Regards.

Hello Amena I share your doubts about the attribution of this sugar bowl. Some observations: -The tête de sanglier mark is indeed the mark used for 800 standard silver smalls after 1838. That alone doesn’t bother me too much as items sometimes are marked with a standard mark of later date if resold....

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