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Topic: Minerva mark

ahwt

Posts: 2334
Registered: Mar 2003

posted 04-28-2006 12:20 AM

[01-2424]

Buried deep in the Small French Cup - Part 1, Blakstone posted a great picture of the Minerva mark that showed some sort of creature in hair of this Goddess. I have yet to find out what this little figure is or what its meaning is. Does anyone know anything about this unusual feature or even why the French selected Minerva for their silver mark?

Below are some pictures of a Freeman Durgin ladle that was retailed by W. C. Defriez of St. Louis. I posted pictures of this ladle some time ago, but wanted to post it again to see if anyone thought that there may be some connection with the creature in the Minerva mark. Durgin has what appears to me to be a hare or rabbit in the helmet of the soldier just below the plume and of course has surrounded the soldier with odd little faces. This may have been just an exercise that Durgin went through to have some fun or he may have been mimicking something he saw in similar marks of his day.

The more that I look at it, the hare may be a unicorn.

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tmockait

Posts: 963
Registered: Jul 2004

posted 04-28-2006 03:54 PM

Minerva was a Roman Goddess of crafts so her choice was a logical one. She was adopted (from what I can tell from Tardy) after the French Revolution before which local marks seemed to have a lot of crowns and crests, which would no longer have been acceptable. Given that the revolution coinicded with the neo-classical period (see David's paintings), revoltuionaries would logically have looked to Greco-Roman mythology for symbols. According to Tardy, assaying fell by the wayside during the turmoil until the silver guildsmiths suggested the need for a standarzied guarantee mark.

I hasten to add that I am drawing on my knowledge of European history here rather than any expertise pertaining to French silver. I am also avoiding finishing a book due at the publishers Monday. Got to go!

Tom

[This message has been edited by tmockait (edited 04-28-2006).]

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