Figures 2 a, 2 b, and 2 c demonstrate the second standard full mark of Christofle, used on silver-plated hollow ware in 1862-1935 (Literature: 1, 2 and 3). Let us compare this mark with the earlier one, depicted in Fig. 1a. The main difference is that in the later case the "CC" oval mark is put inside a the square box. We will call such mark the "CC" oval/square mark. According to the information obtained from Kathryn Vaughn (Literature: 4), the mark in the square box is called the poinçon de responsabilité and refers to one of three legislated marks on French silver plate. Its use on silver plated goods in France was decreed on 26 May 1860 to consist of the maker’s initials and symbol in a square box. A bee image between the balance plates is absent; instead there is an image of a flower (rosette). Another new element is the designation of the silver content (so-called marque de grammage) in square boxes instead of the former lozenge-shaped ones. Finally, the presence of a new specific element, the rhomb with the inscription "METAL BLANC", should be added. We will call it the "mb" rhomb mark. This mark appeared sometime after 1878 and was used for marking the Maillechort (Alpacca) base metal (Fig. 2 b). There was no marking for other base metals used for silver plating (Fig. 2 a), but the use of these other base metals was continued after the introduction of the rhomb mark, though in smaller quantities. My calculations show that around 40% of the silver-plated Christofle items, issued in 1878-1935, do not carry the "mb" rhomb mark.

Fig. 2 a: Standard full mark used in 1862-1935

Fig. 2 b: Standard full mark used in 1862-1935 (with a rhomb sign for Maillechort base metal)

Fig. 2 c: The "CC" oval/square mark

The third legislated mark inside the full standard mark used in 1862-1935 is the so-called marque de fabricant (Literature: 4) or simply the foundry name. In our case it is the "CHRISTOFLE" inscription in a cartouche. The length of the "CHRISTOFLE" inscription inside the full standard mark is not standardized and varies for different items from 5.2 to 10.4 mm. The most frequently found length (in every second item!) is 7.6 + 0.2 mm. Contrary to that, the ratio of the length of "CHRISTOFLE" inscription to its height is very stable. Throughout the XIX century, the mean ratio for 30 pieces is 8.8 + 0.2, while for 19 pieces made in the XX century it is equal to 9.1 + 0.2.

Now let us consider the items' numbering. In my collection there are 44 Christofle items issued in 1862-1935 with numbers starting from 359 and finishing at 2933420. Sometimes, the numbering is placed separately from other marks. Sometimes, the pieces with "CC" oval/square mark possess no numbering; amongst them the pieces made after 1930. My next task was to correlate the numbering with the time, in other words, to date the numbers. First this problem seemed to be an intractable one, but in 2006 I was lucky to purchase a dated milk can, bearing the number 1776073 and signed Salzburg 98 (Fig. 3). I supposed that this milk can with a number 1.77 million (1.77 M) was made in 1898 or a little bit earlier. Another reliable time point should be the year 1862, starting from which the Christofle items with the "CC" oval/square mark were produced. Taking this into account, we can easily calculate that the mean productivity of Christofle silver-plated hollow ware (including trays) during these thirty-six years (1862-1898) was equal to about 50,000 pieces per year.

Fig. 3: A Christofle mark with additional inscription "Salzburg 98"

In 1935, the third standard full mark was introduced (Figs. 4 a), which was in use until 1983 (Literature: 1, 5). Instead of the initials "CC" it contains the initials "OC" which means "Orfèvrerie Christofle" (Silversmith Christofle). It should be noted that contrary to the "CC" oval/square mark, the "OC" mark is enclosed in a lined rectangular box. We will call this mark "OC" oval/rectangular mark. Another difference lies in the drawing inside the oval. While the standard "OC" oval/rectangular mark contains a bee (Fig. 4 b), the above-mentioned "CC" oval/square mark contains some kind of flower (rosette) instead of a bee (Fig. 2 c). The size of the oval is about 1.6 mm x 2.6 mm (for four items at my disposal), which more or less corresponds to the size of the oval in the "CC" mark (see above). The ratio for the "CHRISTOFLE" inscription is 8.6 (mean value for five items) and again corresponds to the ratio value in the case of "CC" mark. The full mark, used in 1935-1983, includes another unique element to indicate the silver-plating (Literature: 6), namely, a "knight" chess figure between two letters "O" and "C" in a square box (Fig. 4 c). The size of the box varies between 1.8 mm x 1.8 mm and 2.2 mm x 2.2 mm.

Fig. 4 a: Standard full mark used between 1935 and 1983 (without numbering)

Fig. 4 b: The "OC" oval/rectangular mark	Fig. 4 c: The silver-plating designation, used in 1935-1983

After this long introduction, I would like to present a recently found Christofle mark for silver-plated hollow ware, which to the best of my knowledge has not been reported before. This new "intermediate" standard mark is shown in Figures 5 a and 5 b. It has common features with both the "CC" oval/square and the "OC" oval/rectangular marks. Similar to the "CC" oval/square mark (Fig. 2 c), it possesses the "CC" inscription that proves the use of this mark before 1935. In the new mark, the oval inside the square is given separately from the foundry name, similar to the "CC" oval/square mark. However, the oval of "intermediate" mark is placed in a lined box and contains a bee instead of a rosette, like the "OC" oval/rectangular mark (Fig. 4 c). The size of the oval is about 1.6 mm x 2.5 mm (for two items at my disposal), which more or less corresponds to the size of the oval in the "CC" oval/square mark (Fig. 2 c).

Fig. 5 a: Image of the "intermediate" standard Christofle mark, used between 1930 and 1935. The numbers 3•32 could simply refer to the month and the year of production, which means March 1932	Fig. 5 b: The "CC" oval/square mark used    inside the "intermediate" Christofle mark

Finally, I also discovered the "intermediate" oval mark on the Christofle silver-plated item, made of Gallia base metal (so-called "ORFÈVRERIE GALLIA") and issued at the same time (Fig. 6). However, the oval size of the corresponding mark used on Gallia items is significantly smaller, only 1.1 mm x 1.6 mm.

Fig. 6: The "intermediate" "CC" oval/square mark on the Christofle silver-plated     item, made of Gallia base metal

The author is grateful to his wife Danielle for her continuous support

LITERATURE
1. Marc de Ferrière, Christofle: 150 ans d’Art et de Rève. Dossier de l’Art, No.2, pp.3-73 (1991)
2. Christofle. Orfèvrerie Argentée, 1862-1883. (Reprint produced by Collection Livres, Bruxelles, 2004)
3. Christofle & Cie. Orfèvres Usines à Paris et à Saint-Denis. (Siège Social et Manufacture, 56, rue de Bondy, Paris, 1922)
4. Kathryn Vaughn, private communication
5. Christofle: Marks & History, http://www.925-1000.com/a_christofle.html
6. Dedo von Kerssenbrock-Krosigk and Claudia Kanowski, Modern Art of Metallwork. (Bröhan-Museum, Berlin, 2001), pp. 386-393
David Nikogosyan can be contacted at niko@phys.ucc.ie