Elegant antique French Napoleon III era COMPLETE matching 5pc sterling silver & genuine carved ivory meat & salad serving utensil or implement set including a 'truelle a' poisson' for fish, all beautifully kept in a fitted storage and/or presentation box! A wonderful set, complete and all pieces with those lovely solid carved ivory handles. The set includes meat carving knife & fork, salad serving fork & spoon, the unique addition of the pelle or truelle a' poisson for serving fish, tarts or pastries and the original fitted storage and/or presentation case or box! Hallmarked sterling silver, the French Minerve or Minerva on the pele blade, the tiny number "1" mark within designates it as being .950 silver content (95% pure, higher than the .925 standard for sterling silver). The silversmith marks are for Thomas & Henin, Paris circa 1861-1865. Original steel tines & blade on the meat serving pieces, sterling blade on the 'truelle'. All original and all in wonderful shape, gorgeous!
Very good to excellent condition. I See no notable damage whatsoever. Some tarnish and/or age corrosion to the steel (pre-stainless steel) on the meat knife and fork. The box appears original, all pieces fit and the box itself is in great shape though it is missing the left side clasp. See pictures for all weights and measurements.
The vast majority of worked and antique object tortoise shell material comes from the shells of two species of sea turtles: the hawksbill (Eretmo-chelys imbricata) and, more rarely, the green turtle (see box A). The shells of these turtles exhibit attractive patterns that normally consist of light to dark brown patches, though a homogeneous “cream”-colored variety called blond tortoise shell also exists.
IMPORTANT NOTE regarding antique tortoise shell or ivory: We are great supporters of protection for endangered species in our modern world. We never buy or sell anything 100 years or newer; we donate to anti-poaching organizations; we don't hunt; we conserve in ways that impact global warming (we're totally solar at home), knowing those measures also protect the animals in the wild today. We also recognize the vast cultural history we preserve with our care and reverence for these antique objects, and agree with CITES that objects over 100 years of age have nothing whatsoever to do with species depletion in our current world.
Our offering exceeds the age limitation of "more than 100 years of age", and is well within the exemption for CITES regulation. If imported, met the CITES regulation. This item will be handled and shipped from our Utah business, and is not available for shipment internationally, nor within the USA to California, NY, Nevada, Hawaii, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington if it contains ivory, sorry. Please see our small print for more details.
