Help Identifying a circa 1760's French Tea Strainer Spoon

[scolada]

Hello All,

Firstly I wanted to say hello. I just joined the forum this morning and am looking forward to being an active member!

What I'm looking for to start is some help identifying a spoon. I have found the marks but I'm having trouble identifying the actual manufacturer. I've been trying to do my research but my lack of knowledge has forced me to ask for help. I am attaching the images below with the marks and a url of a site where I have gained a little bit of knowledge but as I say, the manufacturer is eluding me so any help you could give would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

x

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[JayT]

Hello Scolada and welcome!
Unfortunately I believe that your object is not what it claims to be - not French, and not 18th C. To me the marks are fantasy marks.
To explain:
-First the style is rococo, too early for a supposed 1760s charge mark of a crowned A.
-Second the form is not French. The French didn't drink much tea until later in the century and they didn't use strainer spoons.
-Third, the casting of the rococo elements around the circumference of the spoon and the piercing are not of the quality you'd expect in an 18th C piece, and the repoussé design element in the centre would not be found on French flatware of the period.

Now to the marks:
-In the pre-revolutionary period, French silver generally should have 4 marks - maker, date letter, charge and discharge. Your object has a purported Paris charge mark, but the other mark imitates the giraffe head recount mark (poinçon de recense) used in 1838. It is not the dog-head discharge mark you show an illustration of. Also it is too big to be a discharge mark.

Others may contradict my analysis of your spoon, but to me it is not a mid-18th C piece for the reasons I've outlined. Sorry.

[oel]

Hi welcome to the forum.

The laurel branch A crowned, I believe to be a Hanau pseudo mark for example see Neresheimer:
http://www.925-1000.com/Fgerman_hanau_marks_01.html.



Oel.

[scolada]

Thank you very much for the help!

[JayT]

You're welcome!