Please help me identify this charger.

[pbp33411]

I could use some help identifying the maker of this silver charger, and tell me if there is any special meaning to the crest which appears on the front. The charger is 24cm in diameter and bears a crest on the rim.



The piece bears the Large Guarantee Mark on the face, impressed into the rim.


On the back appear the Paris 1819-1838 mark at the center.


A Name and the maker's mark also appear on the rim.


Here's a closeup of the maker's mark (digitally enhanced for readability).


I'd really appreciate any help with this.

[blakstone]

Wow. The maker is Jean-Charles Cahier (1772-1849), successor to M-G Biennais, Napoleon's silversmith. Cahier, working from 1801, has some 86 items on France's register of historic church silver, including a font at the Malmaison Chapel and a bread offertory plate made for the 1825 coronation of Charles X, the last Bourbon King of France.

About which, the arms on your plate are the royal Bourbon arms, of both Louis XVIII and Charles X. The date is right, the maker is right, and the arms are right, so you might have royal Restauration piece there from the last of the Bourbons. I say "might" because the arms were also technically the arms of all France, and it's far more likely to have belonged to some high-minded loyalist subject.

Either way, it's a fabulous piece of silver and French history; congratulations.

P.S. Great photos, by the way.

[pbp33411]

Blakstone, thank you for your help. Other pieces in the same collection are engraved 'Bouche du Roi' and have a very similar rim. The makers marks appear different, and I wasn't convinced that the charger and the rest of the pieces belong together until now. Is this mark also used by Jean-Charles Cahier? I'm sorry I can't get a better picture. The upper half of the makers mark appears to have lettering, but perhaps in Greek or Cyrillic letters? I will try to take a better picture.


There are several pieces that appear to be for cooking, with a pan, a lid for the pan, an alcohol burner, a stand, and a shallow dish. I haven't been able to find a full set of marks on some of the pieces, and on two of the pieces the marks are French, but quite different.

(admin edit - you need to review! Posting Requirements)

[pbp33411]

I just got a better look at the makers mark on the chafing dish lid and I was dumbstruck for a minute. On the upper half of the mark are the Hebrew letters יהוה, and on the bottom the initials JCC. The Hebrew lettering is one of the names of God.

[blakstone]

Absolutely correct; JCC + "un jehovah" was registered in 1801 and JCC + "deux L's entrelaces" was registered 1816-1817; both marks were cancelled on Cahier's death in 1849; the impressed "C. CAHIER" is known as well. Cahier was the silversmith to the King, succeeding Biennais in 1821.

[pbp33411]

I thank you again, blakstone. I have been busy trying to get good photos of marks on two other pieces. They are also Paris, early 19th century - from the same era as the Cahier chargers. One piece is an alcohol burner bearing a recognizable Paris mark and Guarantee mark, and this makers mark:


I hope you can tell me it is the mark of Biennais.

The other piece is a stand which holds the alcohol burner, and it bears these two marks:


The lower is a different mark but clearly from the same maker as above. The upper mark says 'P 2'. I think it is probably a Paris mark and perhaps the 2 indicates 80% silver content, but I haven't been able to find this mark on the web. Can you help?

I promise to stop asking questions - because I've run out of distinct marks and you have already been a great help to me.

[dinio]

Hi,
The mark on the alcohol burner is clearly the mark of Martin-Guillaume Biennais, silversmith in Paris between 1794 and 1832 (reference : Beuque 'Poinçons de maître' mark #2493, letter B, a monkey, 2 dots within a lozenge).

The first mark on the alcohol burner is a head of a greak woman, created in 1793 by the guild of parisian silversmiths to guarantee silver purity. It was replaced in 1794 by another elliptic mark with the same head, but the letter P was removed and the figure 1 was inscribed on the right side of the neck. There is no figure 2 in your mark, it is only the hair which takes a curly shape which looks like 2. This mark is documented in Beuque 'Poinçons officiels - I' mark #135, Head of a greak woman, letter P.
Thus your piece is 1793 or 1794.
For what concern the maker's mark on this piece, your probably have a first version of Biennais's mark (see burner mark, which was introduced the same year).

Congratulations for these pieces.

Dinio

[pbp33411]

Dinio, merci. Je suis très reconnaissant pour votre aide.