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My pleasure.

Thank you for your comments regarding apprentice’s marks. As for nineteenth century Alsatian silversmiths, no ready-made list exists to my knowledge. By the outbreak of WW I few Strasbourg silversmiths were left and the war for all intents finished off Alsatian production. Therefore a list of ninete...

The excellent catalogue of the silver collection at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Strasbourg reproduces Johann-Ludwig [Jean-Louis] Buttner’s pre-revolutionary mark, and describes his post-revolutionary mark that is found on a number of objects in the collection (goblet, sugar nips, pastry server,...

Hmm… You tell a complicated tale with some inconsistencies in dates. As a citizen of France, too, believe me I know all about French bureaucracy - rules and regulations. But I don’t think one’s nationality has place on a silver forum. I stand by my observation that this is a reproduction piece datin...

Definitely silverplate and probably escargot forks. On p.85 of his book on nineteenth century French flatware, David Allan has a reproduction of an 1898 Christofle catalogue page showing oyster forks in 18 patterns; all the forks have 3 tines. Allan illustrates escargot forks by two other makers; bo...

Perhaps a keepsake gift to someone from Doris & Irene?

I believe that these marks are spurious with the exception of the boar’s head mark. They sort of look ok, just like a knock-off luxury watch might look good at first glance. But on closer examination they don’t make sense. The French marking system can be confusing, but it is heavily codified, and t...

You have asked a complex question. My suggestion for ways to learn about silver — other than self-study by building a personal reference library and participating in specialized forums — is to follow auctions, including purchase of auction catalogues, talk with knowledgeable dealers, visit museum co...

I don’t know how this object was used. The mark is worn / poorly struck, but it is that of Pierre Queillé. This maker’s symbol is an oar; in fact your object looks like a representation of the symbol. For more about the history of the company and how the mark’s appearance changed over time see this...

My pleasure.

I think your knife is either an individual dinner knife or a fruit / dessert knife depending on the length. It is the Trouville pattern, first designed in 1937 by Jean E. Puiforcat, and no longer in production. Jean-Elisée Puiforcat (1897-1945) designed silver in the Art Deco style for the Puiforca...

My pleasure to help. This is my best guess. The engraver's bees are very schematic, so maybe his fleur de lys are also? A definitive answer might be had from a fee-based armorial research service. As you know the Legion of Honour has a five-armed cross hanging from a laurel-leaf crown and the centra...

The medal suspended under the armorial could be the Order of Saint Michael ( Orde de Saint-Michel ), although the engraving is a bit schematic to be completely certain. The insignia of the order was a Maltese cross, each arm of the cross ending in two pellets, with a fleur de lys between each arm. T...

Your photo looks a bit blurred on my monitor. This pattern appears to be Violon palmettes, that first appeared in 1851.

The Queillé family were large manufacturers of silver cutlery, flatware and hollowware in Paris at various addresses throughout the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century until the 1930’s. The company passed from father to son over more than a century. Their mark was always the initials ...

My pleasure.

Your photos are not very clear on my monitor, even with magnification. What does the symbol look like? Is it a caduceus? What are the maker's initials? Is the last letter a B? Help us to help you.

In France this form is called une pelle à pâtisserie or pastry trowel. It was made by Auguste Toudouze & Donatien Bourgueil, cutlers in Paris at 30, rue Rambuteau. Their mark was TB on a horizontal axis separated by the head of an eagle with a crown around its neck. They were in business for o...

Édouard Ernie was the successor to his father-in-law, Jules Guétin in 1882, and as was the custom, he used his father-in-law’s device — a gaiter — to honour him and to show that the company was continuing. The French word for gaiter sounds like Guétin, so the device initially was a way to help pe...

Here is some clarification about flatware patterns in France. While French manufacturers did not produce as many patterns as United States makers, in the nineteenth century they did have catalogues of named or numbered patterns. Other than personalization such as monograms or armorials, customizatio...