Iconic cutlery models (per country)

[p_andsalt]

Hi, I have a limited knowledge about cutlery and was hoping that people here could help me out. What are the iconic cutlery models per country? I know that England has the Sheffield Rattail and The Netherlands has the Haags Lofje. But what is the most famous cutlery models from France or Germany? Or any other examples from other countries are also welcome? Thank you!

[agphile]

I doubt whether you can expect much by way of answer to your question. I don't want to seem dismissive, but I am not clear what an iconic model would be. I certainly wouldn't think of "Sheffield Rattail' as such in the case of England. The rattail was not unique to England where it was a feature of late 17th and early 18th century spoons long before Sheffield had an assay office. The Hanoverian rattail pattern was revived in Victorian times and is still made, but has existed alongside a range of other patterns that have been just as popular or even more popular.

Many of the modern reproductions, no doubt including examples with Sheffield marks, are pretty inauthentic, for example including a rattail on the forks (quite wrong) as well as the spoon bowls, and have been marketed with a fairly inaccurate spiel about the pattern's history. Hanoverian rattail spoons are attractive and a favourite of many but I'm afraid I can't see them, or any other single pattern, as the most famous or the most typical of England.