Miles


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No accident, and theoretically you should always see one of these on a piece of post 1830's French flatware or holloware. The peculiar stamp you refer to is called a bigorne and it is a counterstamp to the Minerva head. When the Minerva head was struck, the spoon stem was resting on an anvil horn that was engraved with twentyone bands of different insect forms. As the Minerva was stamped, so was the insectile bigorne mark counterstamped to the opposite side, you'll see that its placement matches the standard mark exactly.there is a peculiar stamp which seems like it could have been impressed by accident