Postby dinio » Mon Sep 14, 2009 1:55 pm
Hi,
I must say that I am doubtful about the origin of this tea caddy.
Firstly in France, since the 14C, the makers mark alone is not a guarantee of the silver content. Before entering the market every item must be punched by the assay office which is the only body entitled to provide such a guarantee. There have been some exceptions for the silversmiths who where working in small towns, but they were not numerous. So it is very unusual to see french silver without such a mark : at the end of 19C, it is either a Minerva head if the item is for the domestic market or a Mercure head for the export market. Even small items, contrary to a widely spread idea, must bear such a guarantee mark (a weavil or a boar's head) before entering the market. The only example I have seen is a wine taster which had only the silversmith lozenge mark and the word CARDEILHAC, similar to your tea caddy, but the reason for this was well known: this wine taster was made by a member of the staff of this silversmith workshop, who brought it at home for his personal use and thus he was entitled to own it without having paid the duty, and thus without such guarantee mark. When I sold it in an auction house, I had to pay for the swan mark to be struck on the wine taster in order to guarantee the silver content.
Secondly, the hallmarks are strangely worn: the lozenge mark is rather worn whereas the textual mark is not. This textual mark seems to have been struck a long time after the lozenge one, and I cannot see an explanation for this. And also the text "APARIS" is not struck as a French would do : the space between A and PARIS does not appear large enough to me.
Thirdly french production must bear hallmarks on every parts of the item. Thus we would expect to find 2 hallmarks on the body of the tea caddy and 2 on the topper, which is not the case.
Finally, part of the work on this tea caddy seems to be rather rough and not consistent with the reputation of high quality of the Odiot firm : specifically, the vertical lines on the corners of the body are not straight and even as they should be for such a silversmith.
I do not want to disappoint you, but these facts are not in favour of guarantying that this tea caddy is a real Odiot production.
Hope this helps.
Dinio
