Christofle Article

[admin]

Members,
2209patrick has written and contributed a terrific article about the trademarks and history of Christofle of France, one of the world's finest tableware manufacturers. It can be found onsite at ->
http://www.925-1000.com/a_christofle.html

Regards, Tom
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[Bahner]

Hello, terrific indeed ! Congrats and thanks ! Bahner
.

[Silvy]

very nice article

have a question for Alfenide, are you sure,that Christoffle bought Alfenide 1888? As I know ,the widow of Charles Halphen was not so amused about the Christofle -family.Alfenide was producing just to the first quater of the 20th century.From 1853 to 1878 Christofle wasnt able to produce Nickelalloy, so he had a contract with Charles Halphen, the producer of the so called Alfenide, a Nickelalloy. Christofle made the design,gave the item to Halphen,who produced the item in Alfenide.Then Christofle electroplated the object.In 1878 the contract was dissolved, because Christofle built his own factory for Nickelalloy. For the Halphen family that was a kind of desaster. They went on producing under their Alloyname: Alfenide. So you will never find a Christofle-Item marked "Alfenide" which is younger than 1878.
best regards
Silvy
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[admin]

Silvy,
Sorry, lost track of this post, but finally, here is an early Christofle advertisement from the 1869 edition of the Paris gazette "Revue des Deux Mondes". It is a bit blurry, but above the "alfenide" mark it states "poincon de metal blanc dit alfenide".

According to "Management and Business in Britain and France" By Youssef Cassis & François Crouzet (Oxford, 1995), Christofle acquired outright ownership of Alfenide in 1888.
Regards, Tom