Rare Large Silver Sugar Spoon, Louis XV Period - Silversmith Jean Baucaire, Metz 1747-1748

LARGE SUGAR SPOON
Sterling silver
Goldsmith Jean Baucaire (~1690 - ~1753)
Large, flat model with hemmed spoon, attachment without shoulder
Louis XV period
Metz, 1747-1748
Length: 23.1 cm
Diameter of the spoon: 7.2 cm
Weight: 108 g
Rare
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Master's mark
• Crowned IB, and below, a flower for Jean (Paul) BAUCAIRE (~1690? – ~1754?), domiciled La Fournirue, assayer at the Metz Mint from 1723 to 1753 and one of the six managers of the mark in 1733 [Cassan p.268; Dennis II p.146 n°476a].
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Hallmarks of the jurisdiction of Metz
• Hallmark for Metz 1747-1748 (B, stars) [Cassan p.256]
• Countermark of the farmer (charge hallmark): the Graoully, mythical dragon of Metz [Cassan p.268; Dennis II p.146 n°476c]
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19th century control hallmarks
• First title hallmark for the departments 1819-1838, with countermark [Arminjon p.27]
• Large guarantee hallmark for the departments 1819-1838, with the old number of Moselle (55) and countermark [Arminjon p.27]
• Guarantee hallmark for the departments, after 1838 (crab) [Arminjon p.31]

Ownership initials OD

A sugar spoon by Baucaire (1751-1752), with a repercé highlighted with engraving lines, is published by Bilgi Kenber [Kenber p.208]. We can also see on our spoon some very faded engraving lines (see last photo).
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Literature
• Catherine Arminjon & al., Dictionnaire des poinçons de fabricants d'ouvrages d'or et d'argent de Paris et de la Seine, 1798-1838, Cahiers de l'Inventaire 25, Paris 1991
• Claude-Gérard Cassan, Les orfèvres de Lorraine et de Sedan, Presses Universitaires de Nancy, Nancy 1994
• Faith Dennis, Three Centuries of French Domestic Silver, tome II, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1960
• Bilgi Kenber & al.,Les cuillers à sucre dans l'orfèvrerie française du XVIIIe siècle, Somogy, Paris 2003