Please Help Identify French Maker's Mark

[cgonzalez100]

I have a miniature tea or coffee pot with French silver hallmarks. I believe the Minerve mark is modern, but I am not familiar with modern hallmarks. Could anyone please identify the age or town? The silversmith mark I do not recognize. It look's like initials DM with a drafting compass or large capital A? I would greatly appreciate your help

[cgonzalez100]

I was able to do a little research. The Minerva mark here is modern, used after 1972 when silver content was lowered from .950 to .925. However I am unable to identify the letters surrounding the Minerva head. I do see the number one to indicate .925, but do not understand the letters or symbols to the right of her head

[silverfan]

if I remember well, the letter A is a year letter for the decade 1972-1982, B for 1982-1992 and so on. The Alpha I cannot explain.
Regards silverfan

[JayT]

Yes, this is the Minerva head used after 1972. The 1 at the base of the head on the left indicates silver standard of 925; the letter at the base of the head on the right is a date indicator, in this case D for 2002-2012; the mark on the top right is a symbol or différand indicating the assay office. Here the symbol is a Greek alpha for Paris, used after 1993. To find the maker, please consult the French Ministry of Culture database for Paris makers registered after 1878.

http://www.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistr ... 4%24%2534P

To me this is a cream or milk jug from a coffee/tea service.

Good luck in your ongoing research.

[cgonzalez100]

JayT & Silverfan,
Thank you so much for helping me! With your guidance, I think I found the silversmith. I searched for small tea and coffee pots online, adding a date of 2000 or so, to see if I could find something brand new in a boutique. I did find the boutique of Andre Morand, which has a long history dating to 1907 and found a similar little tea pot with the same pattern.

I wonder, is it possible to find a modern mark for the silver company Andre Morand? I was not able to find a mark by that silversmith under the culture.gouv.fr website. I am trying to contact the boutique to see if they might have it in their catalogue still :-)

[cgonzalez100]

I found a mark that looks very similar for the maker MORAND (Orfèvre de Morand, initiales "DM" et un sapin ). I could not find it however on this site or on the culture.gouv.fr site :-(

[Zilver2]

Hello,

The mark belongs to the silversmith D Morand, active at Neuilly-sur Seine 92.
Symbol : a hand drill (un drille).
Sorry, but I have no further info.

Regards