Up for sale is a rare large lot of 18th C French silver table forks in the FILET aka THREAD aka FIDDLE THREAD pattern by Louis-Julien Anthiaume of Paris, ca 1782. The forks are 7 7/8 inches long (20 cm) and weigh around 92-98 grams each. The forks have never been monogrammed. The placement and clarity of the marks vary somewhat, but they all bear the [LJ/ A] maker’s mark of Louis-Julien Anthiaume, a large crowned “A” Paris mark, a crowned “T” date letter, a small crown stamp and a Dutch battle-axe shaped tax mark applied in the late 19th C. The forks seem to have spent much of their life in the Netherlands.
Condition on the pieces is quite good. There is normal wear from regular use, and a light knife marks on the tine backs, but the tines are nice and even for the most part. They had been stored in a fitted wooden box as part of a large canteen of flatware and thus escaped a lot of extra handling wear. A rare large lot of 18th C French flatware.