www.925-1000.com

The "différent" and mint mark are the same thing: a device (astronomical symbol, archaic letter, etc.) unique to each assay office. This mark is placed under the chin in the first standard Minerva and in front of the forehead of the second standard Minerva. It's absence indicates the Paris...

With the new images, the mark is clearly "BN" with a chalice (inverted in the photo). There also appears to be a différent under Minerva's chin, indicating a provincial assay office (though again, it is not clear enough to say for sure). I'm not sure where this idea came from that the stan...

I believe it is the mark of Félix Burette, 58 rue Charlot, registered 7 Jan 1922: F.B., symbol "une pensée", i.e. a pansy (flower)

The mark is described, but not illustrated, on French Ministry of Culture site JAyT mentions, #PG00480

The maker is August Ernst Christian Gottschalk of Rostock. Born: 21 Sep 1840, in Rostock, son of Helmut August Ibe Gorrschalk & Sophie Friedericke Christine Mentz Married 1st: 27 Oct 1871, in Doberan, to Luise Sophie Marie Emilie Russ Married 2nd: 22 Feb 1882, in Rostock, to Marie Frederike Caro...

Neither. This is Brazilian, made by Francisco Pereira da Fonseca of Rio de Janeiro, working at least 1864 to 1887. The "10" is the fineness of 10 dinheiros, 10/12 or .833.

Hope this helps!

Ref: Rodrigo Melo Franco de Andrade ed. As Artes Plasticas No Brasil (Rio de Janeiro, 1952) p. 258

Jacques-Antoine Senard, born 21 Nov 1746 in Dole. Apprenticed 1767-1773 to Pierre-Ignace-Joachim Thiebaud in Salins, master 7 Jul 1773 in Lons-le-Saunier and 9 Sep 1782 in Dole. He was the warden of the Dole guild 8 Dec 1783 to 11 Jan 1785. The date letter “Z” here was used from 21 Feb 1788 to 23 Ja...

Francois Marie Raymond Labat Born: 3 Jul 1843, Cazeres, Haut-Garonne, son of Jean Vincent Labat & Philippe Antoinette Adoue (sister of Joseph Adoue) Married: 14 Sep 1867, Paris, 5th arrondissement, to Therese Eugenie Francois, daughter of Louis Charles Francois and Hortense Soibant. I have not ...

As a point of clarification, in the first standard Minerva the assay office code is under her chin; the "1" is always in front of her forehead. These positions are reversed in the second standard Minerva. It is also occasionally possible to differentiate Paris from the Provinces by the big...

Oops! Just realized I missed the topmost mark:

Top) An ewer: Rennes décharge mark for large silver, 1781-1789

Sorry about that!

The crowned “9” was the charge mark of the Rennes mint, but this piece was made in Saint-Malo, which was under the Rennes jursidiction during the ancien régime. Top to bottom: 1) A club + 84: Saint-Malo countermark for 1784, but in actuality probably used ca. May 1785 to ca. 1787. 2) "aa" ...

It's the mark of Jacques-Jeremie Hubert, buckler, working at 40 rue de Montmorency-Reunion, mark registered 1805-1806 with no cancellation date noted. (The "O" is not an initial, but part of the device: a coquille under a ring.) I was unable to find much information on him. Searching his n...

The maker is Eugène Delebois; see this thread: French Tureen - can you identify the maker's mark?

I am reasonably certain that the marks used 1808-1834 and 1834-1846 were not those of father and son, but one person: Pierre Francois Queille. The four generations of Queilles were: Pierre Francois Queille Born: 13 Jan 1781, Paris, 5th arrondissement, son of Pierre Queille & Gabrielle Soyez Marr...

Zurich is correct; the maker is Hans Conrad Lavater (1660-1735; master 1684). I would date this spoon around 1700. Nice find!

Ref: Eva-Maria Lösel, Zürcher Goldschmiedemunst (Zürich: Berichthaus, 1983), p. 241, maker/marks #337

Louis Gabriel Couvertié Born: 7 Oct 1778, St. Marc, San Domingue (now Haiti), son of Jean Couvertié (1738-1811) and Marie Ann Brandy Married, ca. 1799, probably San Domingue, to Marguerite Kunt (ca. 1777 - 1865) Died: 23 Jun 1844, New Orleans, Louisiana Couvertié came to New Orleans as one of the ma...

"1" = date code for 1857; "PACE" = maker Paolo Pace, registered 5 May 1855

Very strange – I think the listing at the patrimony site must have some error, given the incomplete and contradictory information. But I did some hunting and was able to identify the maker “Ferry” as Jean Lucien Ferry Born: 16 Mar 1855, Paris, 2nd arrondissement, son of Jean Emile Ferry, spur maker,...

Your interpretation is exactly right in nearly every respect. The butterfly is indeed a divisional punch for small silver items in use 1819-1838 and the crab mark is a post-1838 re-assay mark. And, yes, the two marks did use different bigornes, the 1819-1838 ones being less intricate and detailed th...

Correction: "Tardy gives only the 1819-1838 table."

As I've mentioned before, the numbers in French marks correspond to the official départemental numbers of each particular regime; the assay office numbers used in the first three post-revolutionary series of marks – First Republic (1798-1809), Empire (1809-1819), and Restauration (1819-1838) – are a...