Postby JayT » Sun Sep 29, 2013 1:00 pm
This is an individual oyster eating implement called une pelle à huîtres in the Cailer et Bayard catalogue. The half-moon bevelled notch at the tip of the bowl is used to cut the flesh of the opened oyster from its half-shell, and then the oyster can be scooped up with the spoon-shaped bowl. These run about 11-12 cm. in length. They are fairly rare on the market, although the manufacturers Murat and P. Canaux & Cie. also made them. To my knowledge Cailer et Bayard did not patent this variation on an oyster fork.
Cailer et Bayard, founded in 1848, was a large manufacturer of silverplate flatware. The company failed in 1934. At its height of production in the 1890’s it employed 200 workers. The factory was on the St-Martin canal in Paris, with a retail outlet on the rue Vivienne.
Cailer et Bayard won prizes at Universal Expositions in 1855, 1867, 1878 and 1889.
