Featured French Maker's Mark Assistance, Please

The mark(s?) is on the side of the C clasp of this piece, which has been seen before in the Cameos thread:



Photos of the mark were taken with a USB microscope & not sure I can do any better. More light & there's too much glare; less is no improvement until it gets too dim to see it at all. Closer & farther from the lens take it even more out of focus. Partial maker's mark, possibly eagle head below it.


I won't taint your judgment with my speculations. I'm not sure whether or not all elements are letters.

All ideas welcome, even the silly ones.

 

Gorgeous brooch, Bronwen.
Looks like the blob in the centre of the blur could be a feather or a leaf. R leaf A?

Did you check the links (alphabetical) to the directory of maker's marks at the top of this page?
http://www.silvercollection.it/frenchhallmarks.html

 

OK, I'll give a little. I see the center as a large capital C in a serif style. There may have been some little device on the far right that could have been really helpful.

I have been looking here:
http://www2.culture.gouv.fr/public/...&REC_DOM=&LOCAT=&USRNAME=nobody&USRPWD=4$%34P

 

Also possible it says Cie, which would be less help.

 

Thorvaldsen.

 

Of course!

 

Found the eagle's head, farther down, almost at the base of the C-clasp:

 

While I can't help you with a mark, I would suggest that you get a magnifying app for your phone. The one I have is phenomenal at looking at the smallest thing, takes pictures and for the $1.99 version has an light. It is called magnifying glass +++ and has a blue background and magnifying glass. If you tell me what kind of phone you have then I'll find one for you.

 

That is really sweet of you. However, kind of phone: just bought a 4G flip phone. It has a camera, but I have yet to figure out how to set up working e-mail to send photos to myself & not sure I can do something like download an app. Think not. Even if all that were not a problem, I have a tremor that affects mainly my hands; I would not be able to hold a phone steady. You think these are blurry!

May have to think about a better USB microscope. This one is a cheapie I bought to see how useful it would be to me. I don't often need to photograph things that are so minute. My digital camera does well for small things using super macro, but these marks would be too small & difficult to position.

 

French marks are incredibly tiny, & in this case we do not even have a complete one. Compared to the mark on the Mexican bracelet, we're trying to read something about this big:

 

Completely understand.

 

I've ordered what I hope will be a better scope for my needs. Still not expensive, but on a flexible arm, like a goose neck lamp. Main problem with the one I have is the stand, not the device, but I can't hold it by hand.

 

Hope it works. As you know I am a member of the BDC and understand the shakes.