French salt spoon

[Ubaranda]

Hello!
Does anyone know the manufacturer of this French salt spoon? I assume the initials are SF or SE.
Thanks in advance.

[anikopol]

Hi Amena,

I made some research on Parisian silversmith with SF or SE, without much success so far.
On your pic :
- the second letter look more like an F to me
- the symbol ("devise") between the two letters is very unclear to me. According to you, what does represent this symbol ?

Thanks

[amena]

Caduceus???

[anikopol]

Hi Amena,

No Parisian silversmith with SF or SE and a caduceus (caducée) found in the 20 c. according to my reasearch.
That may suggest that :
- the symbol is not a caduceus (I understand that even with the spoon in hand, the symbol is not so easy to interpret... a situation which is not so uncommon for silver)
- the spoon was not made in Paris (I think that from the end of 19 c., a significant part of silver flatware was produced in Paris, but Lyon had also a number of silversmith during this period - and specially known for ecclesiastic silver)
Sorry !

[bijoux.expert]

I've had a through all the marks starting with an S and with an E or an F, no luck. I also searched for marks with the symbol of a lucarne (beetle) or tenaille (pincers), still nothing.

[bijoux.expert]

For what it's worth, a drop of acid on the maker's mark will in some cases make it more visible. The police use the same technique to reveal serial numbers filed off guns, and US coin dealers use it on buffalo nickels to reveal the dates which have worn away. When metal is struck, the lower parts are more compressed and harder and therefore resist acids differently.