The constitutional Republic of France has been a major tourist destination for well over a century.
The beautiful city of Paris, the delights of the French Riviera, the fantastic architecture of old France have been displayed on souvenir spoons.
Three of these spoons are marked indicating at least 800 silver. #3 is unmarked but basically the same as #2 but upgraded and I suspect it is also 800 silver
The coat of arms topped by a crown is used to identify different cities
1. marked with a symbol for 800 silver and shows extensive hand workmanship
2. marked with a symbol for second quality silver but showing only minor hand touchup
3. marked as 'imported' with no silver quality marking but showing som hand workmanship
Napoleon tops these spoons. There is a countless amount of Napoleon souvenirs available
large Napoleon spoons can be seen at the large spoon index
First four appear to be the same manufacturer with only the name engraved in the bowl being different. Marked as second quality silver (800) in the bowl
right spoon is marked in the bowl with French silver marks (800) and on the back with a Portuguese silver mark
Etretat is a tourist town in Northern France known for its cliffs, natural rock arches and pointed "needle"
The coat of arms on these spoons topped by a four pointed crown is basically a generic image for a smaller city.
The Art Nouveau era brought the idea of naturalism back into vogue. These spoon on the back were made in this Naturalism silver style (ca 1900) and have a stem that is shaped like a twig and
a detailed bowl which is a leaf image (but not a leaf shape as is sometimes the case). Note: both of these spoons are very similar and probably from the same manufacturer, but they are slightly different in size.
The gold plated bowl is a very nice enhancement.
Naturalism was first reflected in the Rococo style (before 1800) but was brought back in the Art Nouveau style in precisely imitated natural forms.
Both spoons have German 800 markings. The top one also indicates that it was imported.
detail pictures of spoon bowls (the light blotches are reflections and not on the bowl)
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