1870's French Gothic Chalice

[timoudenhoven]

I have acquired a French Gothic Chalice but am unsure about the maker's mark on it. It is a silver chalice with gold plating. It was found at a church in IL and bears the name of a priest who served there in the 19th century.

It looks to have a V + F on it with a diamond around. It seems to have the French Mercury head (Export) for the silver purity. I was wondering if it might be another mark for Villain et Fils, per the French Maker's page.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/L7 ... directlink

There is a stamp on the bottom that says Fr. Pustet & Co France
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Fn ... directlink

Here is a picture of the overall Chalice
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Wr ... directlink

Thank you in advanced for any information you can provide on this chalice and the Maker's Mark.

Tim

[blakstone]

The maker’s mark is that of the Lyonnaise firm of Villard & Fabre, which was founded in 1901 by Jean-Joseph Villard and Louis François Maurice Fabre. The company became Villard & Cie. in 1938 with Villard’s son Robert Benoît Joseph Marcel Villard, and continued until 1978. They were makers of very fine chalices and liturgical wares, some in traditional styles such as yours, but some in modern Art Deco styles (which are particuarly fine).

Freidrich Pustet & Co. were publishers of Roman Catholic literature and dealers in church goods, founded in 1826 in Regensberg, Bavaria, and with branches throughout Europe and the U.S. by the end of the 19th century. The company is still in business, though now exclusively a publishing house: [url=http://www.pustet.de/buchhandlung/]Bücher Pustet[/i].

So your chalice was made in the first quarter of the 20th century in Lyon by Villard & Fabre, and exported and sold through Pustet & Co. (who had outlets in New York and Cincinnati). Very nice!