Featured Help with Hallmarks

Good day to all of you.

Nice little find this week, Silver bracelet with small hallmarks.
The obvious 925 in a rounded corner rectangle, also a diamond with the letters AB on one side then a star on the upper point and what seems like & Cie on the other side.
Underneath in the center is a circle with a cross inside, the other hallmark seems like a Greek figures head, A trojan or Minerva .
Think i have seen before that if Minerva that would be a French Hallmark.
Would be nice if anyone could chime in. Thanks in advance and great day to all!!
Please don't be too harsh with my pencil skills LOL.

 

The center item is the maker's mark and in a diamond shape plus Minerva head - you've got French!

 

Thanks Bakersgma, yes i was pretty confident with the Minerva and the French connection.
Is that Hallmark still used today or only in the days of yore..well maybe not that far back

 

Maker was Arthus Bertrand et Cie.

Way down near the end of the A listings on this page. http://www.silvercollection.it/frenchsilversmiths.html

 

The only date given is 1911 - not sure whether that's beginning, end or neither of the above.

 

Incredibly fast...exactly, a wheel gear with a star above...your bet i am bookmarking the page you just linked me to Bakersgma, you rock 200%%

Ain't it the one with 1888, not sure where you saw 1911.
OK he is mentionned in two places, the one above was 1888 and the one below that you refer to is 1911. Sorry my bad.

 

Gorgeous bracelet, Nick. Love the sort of Arts & Crafts hammered look.

 

Thanks AN, yes it is raw looking but still very nice and i agree the Hammered finish gives it that extra dimension...it would be nothing special without that touch i Find.
Costed me a whole 18 euros all in @ auction

 

a maison of long and good standing.
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthus-Bertrand_(entreprise)

https://www.google.ch/search?q=poin...HQ7aBoYQsAR6BAgHEAE&biw=1536&bih=711&dpr=1.25

 

Yes Fid, read up on them, they started with military medals way back in the Napoleon days.
They have a jewelery division, I was trying to figure when that Bracelet was made approximately,that is rather hard.

 

you can still narrow it down by searching in the link for the marks (poinçons) I gave. there are simply companies like them and e.g. Victor Saglier etc. that are known by continentals.
here I'd guess it's 1920s when Bauhaus influenced many artists also outside Germany. those hammered finishes were popular and sometimes taken over by art deco artists, but rarely.

 

Yes, that poinçon was used starting 1911 from what i could check, could well be Bauhaus influenced.( I checked an article in the NY times on the company and they embraced that style in some of their jewelery).
I sent and e-mail with Pictures to them...lets see if they reply back.
They hired artists to produce their lines over the years. Interesting formal company that was always low-key, they produce a lot of the highest decorations for the French military.

 

Will you let us know what they say?

 

For sure AN, really hoping they get back to me with some pertinent information...I will all keep you posted...drum roll

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/fashion/jewelry-arthus-bertrand-emmanuel-aubry.html

 

Well got a very proper and formal response from Maison Arthus Bertrand.

""
Cher Monsieur,
Suite à votre demande, nous vous prions sincèrement de nous excuser mais nous ne comptons pas d'effectif dédié à l'identification de ces anciens modèles en interne.

Nous vous remercions pour votre compréhension et vous invitons à solliciter l'expertise de plusieurs collectionneurs afin d'obtenir une réponse sur mesure.
Nous ne sommes pas habilités à vous communiquer de référence en la matière mais une recherche très ciblée sur Internet vous apportera des résultats probants.
Nous vous remercions de la confiance accordée à la notre Maison et vous souhaitons une excellente journée.

Avec tous nos meilleurs salutations.
Service clients ARTHUS-BERTRAND""

This would be the translation below.



Dear Sir, Following your request, we sincerely apologize but we do not have dedicated staff to identify these old models internally.
We thank you for your understanding and invite you to seek the expertise of several collectors in order to obtain a tailor-made response.

We do not have the authority to provide you with a reference on the subject, but very targeted research on the Internet will bring you convincing results.

We thank you for the confidence placed in our house and wish you an excellent day. With all our best regards.

ARTHUS-BERTRAND customer service

 

it's nice that they replied at all.
Avec tous nos meilleurs salutations. = Avec avec la plus grande commisération...

 

Lord, I do love formal French.

 

Yeah....like we don't have time for you LOL...its all about the $$$. at least they replied...formally

 

I was actually honestly amazed, because I had some connection to YSL and saw also the other side of the business - extreme stress, burn-outs etc..