Who is JB? Teaspoons

[mk209]

I got these really nice teaspoons they are from France 950 silver. They are marked with a crescent moon over a star on top of JB with another star below. Who is JB and what date roughly are these?





Thanks, Matt

[JayT]

Your spoons were made by Jules Boivin, maker of small tableware in Paris at 15, rue des Quatre-Fils. He registered his mark on 20 January 1862, erased on 1 February 1881. Jules Boivin was the successor of Nicolas Vautrin, a ring maker.

Jules Boivin was succeeded in turn by his son, Victor Boivin in 1881, and then the company became Boivin Fils in 1897. This family firm won medals at the Universal Expositions of 1867 and 1889, where in 1889 its work was damned with faint praise by the jury, which found the pieces to be of doubtful taste, aimed to please the export market. This criticism certainly doesn’t apply to your spoons!

Hope this helps.

See Arminjon, v.2, no. 02337, p.220,

and David Allan, Le couvert et la coutellerie de table française du XIXe siècle, p.293.

[mk209]

That’s superb thankyou! I don’t tend to find much French silver, it’s a shame as I love the 950 standard items they always look so good when clean.

Matt.

[JayT]

Hello
My pleasure to help.
Yes, 950 standard silver has great lustre, and doesn’t need polishing often, in my experience. It is a good idea not to over polish, as you will lose detail of the pattern. You might now want to give your spoons a rest from polishing.
Best regards,
JayT

[mk209]

These certainly will be not over polished the bright cutting is really something, the effect when they hit the light at different angles is stunning. For me it’s interesting as I’m making spoons now so I’m studying the art of brightwork this pattern of cutting produces such an unusual result.