Christofle import

[amena]

Hello everyone
Still on the subject of imported objects, I came across a punching that is outside the Italian and I believe also French rules.
It is a centerpiece that bears the Christofle trademark.

Next to this is the truncated lozenge mark in use in Italy from 1945 to 1970 approximately.

This mark, 569 MI, corresponds, in the national register of assignees, to the importing company
Argenteria Christofle S.p.a. Via Rossini 4 Milan
di Perego Giuseppe.
Up to this point everything is normal.
Absolutely outside the norm is the fineness mark, where it is written, in Italian
ARGENTO STERLING 940/1000
This is evidently a sort of poetic license

[JayT]

Hello Amena
Very poetic!

[bijoux.expert]

While there is definitely a problem with the hallmarks, it's worth bearing in mind that Christofle does in fact make solid silver items, though it is more known for its silver plated ware.
There is always the small possibility that the bowl is in fact made of solid silver and that Christofle made an error when marking it for export. It's perfectly normal that they would not have brought the bowl to the assay office to have it marked if it was being exported.
It would be worth testing the silver content of the bowl.

[dognose]

I see no reason for the item not to be silver. It being made to 940/1000 to cover the minimum standard required in several countries. Yes, the word 'Sterling' is somewhat confusing, but 940/1000 covers that standard to excess.

Trev.

[JayT]

Hello
There is a lot of confusion about these marks. Here are my comments:
-The Christofle mark is for silver plated items made after 1935. See pp. 272-273, Christofle: une brillante histoire. Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, 2024.
-It would be very unlikely that Christofle would not mark a silver item correctly. The silver plate manufacture is physically distant from the Cardeilhac factory where Christofle outsourced its silver production. The two production lines at no point cross or are even in parallel. I personally visited the Christofle factory in Saint-Denis twice when it was still operational, and can attest that no silver items were made there.
-As we have seen many times on the forum, testing silver plate can produce inaccurate values if not done correctly. As Christofle plates heavily, I believe this is what happened for this item.
-To me the only accurate marks are those made by Christofle and the Italian importer. The item is not silver of any standard.
Regards.

[bijoux.expert]

Christofle makes solid silver in its Normandy factory in Yainville.
Some years ago one of my staff, who was buying jewellery in a hotel in Rouen, not far away, purchased several kilos of new Christofle sterling silverware. I noticed that each piece had a mark made with a red felt pen indicating a small defect. It was obvious to me that the items had been stolen from the reject bin by a worker in the factory, so I called Christofle Paris to warn them. They refused to believe me and accused me of being rude to suggest their factory might have thieves! I had to ring them up three times before I was finally put through to a manager who was very sceptical but finally consented to send someone to have a look at the lot.
This person immediately agreed with my analysis and the company launched an investigation. Several staff were subsequently arrested.
Some months later I called the factory and suggested they might like to offer a small reward to my staff member, as he had received no commission on the purchase, as I had sold it Christofle for my cost price. He just laughed at me. I asked him why, he said that he had heard from the police that the only reason I had called the company was to protect myself, as I had previously bought similar lots and feared the noose was tightening !
This was of course quite untrue, so I called the police, and they denied ever having said that. I never found out who invented that rumour, but the experience left me with a very bad impression of the Christofle company !

[amena]

According to JayT, the Christofle mark that we see on the piece was specific for silverplate, so Mr. Perego couldn't have been unaware.
He was the manager of the company "Argenteria Christofle S.p.a.", it would have been absurd for him to do the acid test to find out if the piece was silver or not.
It's possible that someone mistakenly applied the Italian marks reserved for silver, but it's rather strange that this object ended up on the market.
There's a risk of prosecution.
P.S.After reading Bijoux. expert's post, I'm starting to think that some dishonest employee recovered the piece from the scraps and sold it