Angers 1758, Olive Spoon, Guillaume II Hardy, Plain Solid Silver

RARE LARGE SOLID SILVER OLIVE SPOON
ANGERS, 1758 – GUILLAUME II HARDY

Solid silver.
Length: 34 cm.
Width of the spoon bowl: 6 cm.
Weight: 182 g.
In perfect condition.

A rare and impressive solid silver olive spoon, crafted in Angers in 1758 by Guillaume II Hardy, who was admitted as a master silversmith in 1742.

This spoon is of the single-fluted design. Its long, very simple handle ends in a wide and deep bowl. Measuring 34 cm in length and weighing a remarkable 182 grams, it stands out for its unusual dimensions and the significant amount of silver used. Its heavy weight for a piece of cutlery of this type attests to the substantial thickness of the metal and the quality of its craftsmanship.

The bowl is entirely hand-engraved with an elegant geometric design. This consists mainly of elongated, rice-grain-shaped openings arranged in a regular pattern, interspersed with three-leaf clover motifs. This decorative perforation allowed the olives to be picked up and served while allowing the brine in which they were preserved to drain off.

The spoon bears the four hallmarks required by 18th-century Angers silversmithing regulations:

– the maker’s mark consisting of the letters “GH” surrounding a key, for Guillaume II Hardy;
– the date letter “M,” corresponding to the year 1758;
– the hallmark of the city of Angers;
– the dog-head hallmark.

A much later French hallmark featuring the head of Minerva was also stamped on the piece during a subsequent silver assay.

The olive spoon is one of the most original pieces of 18th-century French silverware. Its wide, openwork bowl was specially designed to remove olives from their container without scooping up the brine. Highly prized at the most refined tables of the 18th century, it could be adorned with particularly meticulous openwork decoration, transforming a functional utensil into a true work of silversmithing.

The rarity of these spoons and the interest they generate among collectors were spectacularly illustrated by the sale of a silver olive spoon made in Limoges during the first half of the 18th century. It sold for 33,280 euros, an exceptional price for a piece of silver cutlery and, relative to its weight, far exceeding the prices of the other pieces of silverware in the auction.

Preserved in perfect condition, this spoon is a rare example of mid-18th-century Anjou silverwork and the production of Guillaume II Hardy. Its exceptional dimensions, its weight of 182 grams, the quality of its re-pierced decoration, and the presence of all the required hallmarks make it a particularly interesting piece for a collection of antique French silverware.