Charles C. Cage writes:
The mark on Alessandro Colemann’s French sweetmeat set (DL + a rat and star) is that of Alexis-Désiré Lerat, 44 rue Sainte-Avoye, Paris. It was registered on 11 Mar 1842 and cancelled 8 Nov 1843.
The mark on his spoon (NPB + a wallflower with five leaves) is that of Nicolaus-Pierre Béguin, 6 place Dauphine, Paris. His first mark was registered 26 May 1840 and cancelled 11 Feb 1847, with an identical second mark registered 3 May 1847. There is no record of cancellation of this second mark, but he is thought not to have worked much past 1847. He was certainly no longer working by August 1855, when his shop was occupied by silversmith Hippolyte Thomas.
Charles C. Cage

Dominique Bochet receives these replies about his silver spoons
(see July 2009 Newsletter)

Charles C. Cage writes:
Dominique Bochet's spoons are Belgian. The '85' mark represents the year 1785, and it is flanked by the marks for Brussels: a crowned lion and the head of St. Michael. The leftmost mark is the maker's mark (an eye), and is attributed to Theodorus Smeesters (Master 1758).
Charles C. Cage

Hugo Keymeulen writes:
This is a good Belgian spoon from Brussels. The marks from the left:
An eye is from the well-known master Theodorus Smeesters, master from 29/05/1758,dean from 1766-1767 until 1771-1772
Then the crowned climbing lion mark is the city mark for Brussel (Brussels) XVIII
85 for he year 1785
The head with the cross is known as 'Sint Michiels', patron saint Brussel (Brussels)
Hugo Keymeulen

Philippe d'Arschot writes:
The answer is:
Marks of Brussels, (Belgium), 1785, master Theodorus Smeesters.
Philippe d'Arschot

André Van den Kerkhove writes:
I can inform that the spoon was made in Brussels.
Marks: master mark, angel Michael (city mark), 17(85) (year) and lion rampant (citymark).
If interested in the maker I need a good photograph to identify him
André Van den Kerkhove

David Mckinley has a deep interest on silver mote spoons, their manufacture, shape, marking and possible use. A long article written by David about this subject matter will be published in one of our next newsletters.
Herewith what he writes about his experiments on mote spoon's use
Giorgio Busetto

MOTE SPOON: AN UNRESOLVED DILEMMA
I am glad that Malcolm Rice (see July Newsletter) found my article on fake mote spoons interesting and to answer his question about what sort of tea I used in my experiments I have repeated them although when I first carried out these experiments I purposely bought large leaf tea which allowed only quite small tea dust specks into the cup. This time the largest leaf I found in our kitchen was Lapsang Souchong. I used three mote spoons in this experiment; an early one with simple holes in the bowl, a mid 18th century one with scroll-work piercing and a later one with crosslets.
I was prompted to carry out these experiments because of the use of the word ‘mote’ (which means small speck) in renaming this spoon in the 19th century.
None of my spoons would remove what I would describe as a small speck. The early one with simple holes removed larger debris as did the later one with crosslets. The mid century one with open scroll-work removed only stick-like pieces of debris but allowed through anything more compact unless quite large.
In conclusion I have to admit that there is still considerable debate about what these spoons were used for and I could be proved quite wrong in my assumptions. I would be interested to hear the views of other members.
David Mckinley

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"A PAGE per MONTH"

In this column we present a page obtained from makers' brochures, books, auction catalogs, advertising or whatever other printed paper, related to silver, that may be of interest for ASCAS members.
The images will be published at a "low resolution" level and for private and personal use only

This month ASCAS presents Sir Edward Thomason's Manufactory at 28 Church Street, Birmingham, taken over in 1835 by George Richmond & Co (from Pigot's Directory of Birmingham). George Richmond Collis succeeded to the business of Sir Edward Thomason (1769-1849) on his retirement in 1835. The firm, under the management of G.R. Collis, continued to produce a vast range of goods in "gold, silver, Plated-bronze and Or-Molu". The firm opened a branch in London c. 1847. The factory moved c. 1868 to Cambridge Street, Birmingham and the firm of Collis & Co was absorbed by S.W. Smith & Co in 1888.

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In this column we present an abstract from a page of the "What is? Silver Dictionary"
courtesy of

MAZARINE A mazarine is an oval pierced plate plate placed on top of a bowl and is used in serving the fish. These drainers range in lenght from about 30 to 60 cm. The origin of the term mazarine is uncertain, but is generally said not to be derived from Cardinal Mazarin, who died before such pieces were used. The mazarine was made from the early years of the 18th century, but examples of any date are not plentiful..... more

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